Halo: Revelations
by Terminal lance
Summary: Mankind has rebuilt and recovered, peace has returned to the galaxay as they know it but not for long. As new enemies attack and the old return humanity and their allies must fight to survive a vast plot to destroy them and take control of the galaxy
1. Prologue

**This is my first attempt at a crossover so tell me what you guys think of it**.

December 21st, 2552/ Standard Earth Calendar: The end of the Human-Covenant war, humanity starts to gather information on what is left of them. The Sangheili, Unggoy, and the Mgalekgolo form together to make a new empire that they call "The Union".

June 6th, 2558/ Standard Earth Calendar: Humanity has finally been able to finish assessing what they lost and what they need to do to continue onward. The rebuilding process starts with help from the Union, tensions between the two groups lessen slightly.

August 9th, 2572/ Standard Earth Calendar: All human Colonies and Planets that were not glassed have been rebuilt and repopulation has begun. Union has established constant patrols around the border of UEG and Union space.

July 1st, 2580/ Standard Earth Calendar: The first Census of the new age, humanity is now close to two third its original population, Union comes in contact with a patrol of Kig-yar. The Jackals have left the brutes but have no where to go, the prophets and brutes glassed their home world. The Jackals are welcomed into the Union with open arms.

September 17th, 2607/ Standard Earth Calendar: The SPARTAN program is transferred from NAVSPEWAR to MARSOC. The program is rewritten and retooled to be more ethical.

July 4th, 2920/ Standard Earth Calendar: The twenty year census shows humanity is double the population before the "Great War" the new name for the Human-Covenant war. With its colonization efforts the UEG now has close to three hundred planets under its banner.

August 5th, 2922/ Standard Earth Calendar: The Union proposes a Joint Colony with the UEG to further relations and for both Groups to become more integrated. The UEG agrees and the Joint colony "Hope" is established.

April 19th, 3013/ Standard Earth Calendar: A civilian freighter stumbles upon a strange artifact, the area is quarantined and the UEG sends a small fleet along with a few scientific ships to artifact and the study begins. Three days after arriving one ship drifts to close and the artifact activates and sends the ship into the unknown the craft returns and the artifacts purpose is discovered, a massive transit device. The Union is contacted and sends its own fleet and scientists to the artifact. All around Union and UEG space strange readings pop up and even more artifacts are discovered. The UEG and Union bans any non military vessel from approaching the artifacts.

July 7th, 3015/ Standard Earth Calendar: the artifacts are now established as the "Transit system". The UNSC and Union Armed Forces create the Blitz protocol, the protocol when is activated all military vessels have right of way to access the transit system.

Shanxi is established as the outer colony trade hub.

April 13th, 3210/ Standard Earth Calendar: Eden Prime Military Cemetery.

Jason Wells set in his chair in the grassy field; all around him was family and friends. The dark green, well kept grass rustled in the wind, the cross-shaped headstones stood in rows like solders in ranks. A grave sat before the assembled people, the overcast sky was threatening to rain but even if it did the assembled would not leave. Next to Jason was his twin brother, John. Jason and John watched as eight men carried a casket to the waiting grave, the ODST flag was draped over the black and silver vessel that would take the boy's father, James Wells to haven. The Eight ODST slowly lowered the casket into the grave, their movements were crisp as two picked up the flag and folded it into the triangle. The ODST that stood to one side were at attention, their BR57 rifles were by their sides, faces stern and set. One ODST who the boys knew was a sergeant, not any sergeant their father's best friend, Scott Joseph. Scott walked over to Ms. Wells and held out the Flag for her to take. A few tears ran down her face as she looked into the family friends eyes.

"Sarah, I am sorry for the death of James" Scott began "He loved you and the children very much, he told me to tell you that it looks like he had to break his promise. He wouldn't be coming home this time. James died protecting a transport loaded with families from the brutes that attacked Congress. He sacrificed himself to make sure that every one of those people made it out alive, including me and our platoon"

Scott stood after Jason and John's mom took the flag, she broke into tears. Scott's moments were crisp as he marched the few steps to were the two boys sat. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small black box, he knelt in front of the boys and opened the box. Inside was the Medal of Honor, Scott looked up a tear ran down his face.

"He would want you to have this boys" Scott said, Jason took the box and held it close, the sergeant ruffled both the boys hair and pulled them into a hug, something any Eighteen year old boys would be mortified about but right now they didn't care. Scott let go and stood, the single tear slid down his cheek as he marched to the head of the rifle squad. He did a crisp right face and faced the sky as he began to bark orders.

"Port Arms!" Scott yelled, the ODST brought the rifles in two quick motions to their chests.

"Three Shoots!" Scott yelled, the ODST aimed the weapons into the air.

"Hand Salute!" Scott barked, all military personal present snapped to a salute.

"Fire" Scott yelled. Three rifle shoots broke the air, after the sound of the last round the skies opened up in a down pour of rain. Those in the crowd quickly dispersed as respectfully as possible, Jason and John however didn't move as they. The ODST marched off, including Scott.

"Come on Jason, lets get going before we catch cold" John said as he stood, Jason nodded and followed his brother to the car that they had brought. John got in the driver seat and Jason got into the passenger side.

A few days later

John and Jason sat down in the booth in the local town diner, they wore simple clothing. It was around six thirty at night and they both had just got down lifting at their high school. The waitress walked up, a petite blonde girl named Kat who had a crush on John since her freshman year.

"The Usual Kat" Jason said.

"Okay, you guys never change your orders when you come here" Kat said as she walked away. Part of living in the small farming town on Eden Prime meant that every one in the town knew every one, the entire town had put flags at half mast and they still were there to honor James Wells. Jason looked up and two Marine officers walk into the diner, the dress uniforms of both had more commendations and awards then either boy had seen before. The officer walked over to the booth, one cleared his voice causing John to look up from his phone.

"Boys, First let me say that I am sorry for your loss but the reason we are here is not related to your fathers unfortunate death" the officer said "may we sit?"

"Sure" John said invitingly as possible. The two sat down in the booth and placed their cover's (FYI hats) on the table.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am major Fenix and my comrade her is Major Erikson" Fenix said.

"Im John"

"Jason"

"We know that, in fact we know a lot about you that you don't. We have been watching you since birth" Erikson said as Kat walked back up "a coffee if you please"

"Wait you have been watching us since we were born? What the hell is going on?" John said.

"Boys we are Spartans and we have come here to inform you that you have both been selected as potential recruits. If you say yes you will go through four years of the most hellish training in existence but you will be the best of the best" Fenix said "So, are you in?"

The boys had wide eyes; both were shocked as they realized what they had just been offered.

"Im in, I was already going in through ROTC" Jason said.

"Make that both of us, someone's got to watch this idiot's back" John said smiling at his brother.

September 1st, 3210/ Standard Earth Calendar: Jason and John Wells enter Spartan program.

February 6th, 3214/ Standard Earth Calendar: The Wells brothers graduate the Spartan program.

February 12th, 3232 0135 SMT / Standard Earth Calendar: High orbit over Shanxi: Navigational officer Kerrick walked along the halls of the UNSC _Miranda_, his mind on nothing in particular as he entered the officer's observation deck and gazed into the blackness of space, his gaze focused on the Transit relay. The tuning fork shaped device was monstrous in size, and to Kerirck who was somewhat artistic it was actually quite the beautiful structure. Kerrick sat down on a couch in the room and picked up a magazine from the side table and began to read, he was ensomic sometimes and had trouble sleeping and tonight was one of those nights.

He read for what seemed like nearly a half hour about the new civilian freighter Grumming had just launched when something caught his eye above the horizon that the top of the magazine made in his field of vision. The Transit relay flashed over and over again and strange angular shape ships appeared around it, Kerrick counted close to twenty eight of varying sizes. Kerrick watched them, _did the Union change designs? _He thought but he realized it wasn't the union as one of the ships fired, the UNSC frigate _Thor _erupted as whatever the unknown ship had fired smashed into its shielding. Kerrick went wide eyed and ran to the squawk box and hit the button for the 1MC.

"General Quarters, all hands General Quarters. This is not a Drill; I repeat this is not a drill!" Kerrick yelled into the microphone "we are under attack by an unknown enemy!"

Kerrick sprinted to the bridge, when he got there he found the captain already awake. Kerrick jumped in his seat at the NAV computer and waited for orders.

"Bring us round and get the MAC ready to fire" Captain Alexander said. The Miranda was a frigate, she was the first of the new Miranda class frigates and the only one in system, her new anit-matter drive core gave her more power then all ships in the fleet save for cruisers and other Miranda class ships.

"fire on the biggest ship they got, high explosive round" Alexander ordered "spin up plasma torpedo launchers one through five to follow" The Miranda's MAC cannon fired and the round smashed into the enemies largest vessel, the enemy however had shields as well and the round didn't go through but the sparking blue lines around the vessel told Alexander that the shields were gone.

"Fire those torpedoes launch archer pod six" Alexander said and watched as the five plasma torpedoes and the missiles flew into the target which erupted into a massive fire ball. The victory was short lived as the nine enemy vessels turned to face the Miranda.

"Sir, the Thor is down" one of the bridge officers said.

"Divert all shield power to the foreword shielding" Alexander said. _Great with the Thor gone that leaves only us plus four more frigates_ the captain thought to himself. The ship shook as the enemy rounds smashed into the foreword shields.

"Shields held sir but are at fourteen percent power"

"Charge the MAC cannon and lunch all the missiles we have to intercept the enemy ships" Alexander ordered as he placed his hands on the command table and looked at the battle space monitor.

"Sir enemy ships lunching dropships, they have us targeted again"

"How did they manage to recharge their guns that quick?" Kerrick asked out loud.

"Redirect those missiles to the enemy dropships, fire the MAC in the middle of the enemy fleet, high explosive" Alexander ordered, the MAC cannon fired again just as the unknown hostiles did, the round passed each other in space. The Round from the Miranda exploded in the middle of the hostiles and knocked a few shields out but the enemy salvo was too much for the Miranda's shields. Seven of the nine enemy rounds tore into the ships.

"We have massive damage to the reactor core, we are dead in the water sir they hit the engines"

"Sir the hostiles are preparing to fire again"

"Give the order, abandon ship and activate Cole Protocol, all NAV personal to the bridge" Alexander said. The captain dropped his head and decided to try on last ditch effort to defy this unknown enemy.

"Send an emergency transmission to the UNSC" Alexander said.

"Sir we can't they have jammed our com's" the radio officer said.

"Damn, now get out of here Jorge and say hello to the miss for me" Alexander said. By now all the NAV crew was on the bridge, and looked at the captain. They knew what had to happen, so did the captain. Alexander reached under the command table and pulled out a box of cigars and hand one to each man. The ships rocked as the third enemy salvo crashed into it. The men that fell got to their feet as quick as possible.

"Light them up boys" Alexander said as he pulled a lighter out and lit his cigar. The NAV crew did as well, the non smokers even allowed theirs to be lit.

"Sir all life boats away" said one NAV officer who was watching the lifeboat monitor.

"Well, Gentle men it's been an Honor" Alexander said "god speed"

Kerrick felt a tear leave his eye but it never made it down his check, the enemy's fourth salvo collided with the ship and hit the reactor core and the anit-matter core went critical and the entire ship exploded in a blinding flash.


	2. First blood

**Well, I don't know what to say…7 reviews, 8 fav's, and 11 alerts. all I haft to say is you guys are awesome, now a few people said that Turian shields could not take a direct MAC cannon hit, I would agree but I will explain (in the story) how the one did. Along with some other complaints people had. Two people said I need a beta, so if anyone is willing I will accept offers but I won't go out of my way to find one, I tried it with every story I have written and it always fell through. Enough talking you guys want the story…**

February 26th, 3232 0825 SMT. On board the UNSC frigate _Bushnell_, in route to Shanxi:

Jason stood in the briefing room along with his brothers in arms; some of them sat at the tables and lounged about waiting for the briefing to begin. The entire group was dressed in the standard issue fatigue uniform that everyone wore onboard ship, it was a digital blue camouflage BDU style uniform, a throw back to the USN Navy Working Uniform. The tier set up of the room made it so everyone a view point of the person giving the mission briefing. Jason was talking to another squad leader from Spartan 3/E Company about the Super bowl.

"Look all I am saying is that the Eagles played great D" Jason said shrugging.

"Are you kidding me Jason? The reff's played the D for the Eagles with all the bullshit calls they made" the other Spartan said.

"What, there were plenty of calls against the Eagles?" Jason said "you are just pissed you lost now pay up the bet" The man grabbed the money and pushed it into Jason's out stretched hand. John chuckled from his seat at the bench, shaking his head at the two spartans. Jason sat down next to him, and checked to make sure that the man he made the bet with had paid up the full amount. Jason felt his brothers stare against the side of his head and looked at the thirty three year old warrior.

"What?" Jason asked as he pocketed the money.

"You, we could be on the verge of another full scale war and what are you worried about? A football bet" John said chuckling again "You never change little brother"

"John, we're twins" Jason said giving his brother a look that communicated that John was an idiot.

"True but I seem to always be the more mature one" John said smiling as he put his feet up.

"That's why they made you squad leader I guess and not me, huh?" Jason said.

"Exactly now give me fifty" John ordered.

"Right away Major, sir" Jason said giving him a salute with his middle finger. The sound of the pressure door opening drew every one's attention. The CO of E company walked in to the room, it didn't need said but it was any way.

"Attention on deck Easy Company!" one spartan yelled. The colonel walked to the front of the room, he was around fifty five but from the advances in medicine and just natural processes the average human life expectancy was close to one hundred and forty years before some one died. The colonel had dark brown hair and his steel blue eyes watched the men in front of him, his name was Andrew Haldane.

"At ease men" the colonel said. All the men and women in the room sat down in their seats and wait for "Ack-Ack"as the spartans efficiently called their company leader to begin his brief.

"Spartans, as you are all well aware by now" Ack-Ack began in a somber tone "the eagles won" A few men, including Jason, said "Oorah" to the colonels statement.

"However, ladies and gentlemen we have our own super bowl to attend" Ack-Ack said as he turned on the screen that the room used, all the spartans took their TAC pads and plugged them into their receivers on the table to receive the mission data. On the screen a map of the capitol of Shanxi, Westcroft, appeared. The view zoomed in on a southern part of the city; the map showed a gun battery located in a park.

"Well, lets get started with this briefing shall we" Ack-Ack said as looked at the screen "For this entire operational period all hostiles are to be referred to as Tangos" the colonel pointed to the guns on screen "this little set up is Mr. Tango's triple A gun battery in the southern block. ODST one-oh-one D company is going to land in take this battery out, this will serve two purposes. The first provide a landing zone for the third and fifth marine companies who will be landing to secure the Southside of Westcroft" the screen shifted to an area to the east of the gun battery "we will be landing the 7th platoon here, Tango has managed to take this comm. relay station and we need it. Until this relay is secure and relinked with our comm. network everyone on the ground is cut off from command higher then anyone on the ground. Sierra this is your primary objective, the rest of the seventh platoon is to move and take out what we can tell is a one of Tangos foreword observation and command post" One of the squad leaders from the seventh raised his hand.

"Yes Will?" Ack-Ack asked him.

"Sir, how did we get this Intel? I don't want to take a supply dump out when it's supposed to be a command post" Will asked.

"The Intel came from a ONI prowler that slipped into the system after a week of no contact to discover what happened since the first investigation frigate that went didn't return" Ack-Ack said "as for how we can tell, the comm.. monitors on the prowler has showed areas were Tango's transmissions are mostly coming from and sending" the colonel returned to the screen "now as I said the rest of seventh will secure the enemy command post. Sierra, after taking the comm. relay will move and hold here" Ack-Ack pointed to a small apartment building "The tower across the way is one of largest Tango concentrations in the Brookville district. You will standby to further orders and observe the enemy. Around zero-one-hundred this entire company is taking that tower back" the colonel went to explain the rest of the company's objectives. The colonel put both his hands and leaned against the table and sighed.

"To tell you the truth I am worried, we have very limited intelligence on the enemy and for the first day you will have no air support and no resupply" Ack-Ack said. Jason raised his hand and studied the TAC map.

"Yes Jason?"

"Sir, what is our ROE?" Jason asked as he looked at his CO.

"The rules of engagement are simple if its not UNSC or Union kill it. No prisoners, command think it would be good to send a message. How ever watch your fire, we are in a city and that means civvies running around, same reason we don't just bombard the triple A and then land" Ack-Ack said "any more questions?" John raised his hand as well.

"Sir what is our escape and evasion plan if we are discovered until the rest of Easy arrives?"

"You will move back to friendly lines and you will then join the first platoon and land on the roof and clear top down" No more spartans raised their hands, Ack-Ack stood and head for the door of the room, one spartan called attention on deck.

"Spartans, dismissed"

February 26th, 3232 0900 SMT. On board the UNSC Bushnell in route to Shanxi:

John slid 7.62x51mm NATO Plasma Encased Rounds into the magazine for his MA37 assault rifle. Little had changed in UNSC weaponry after the invention of the PER, the weapons had been reinforced and the internals had been re made with new materials to withstand the plasma round. The MA37 had been brought back into mainstream service by the UNSC marine core because it was a cheaper to produce then the MA5 series. Its more robust action could stand up to the forces that the PER placed on the weapon. John looked up and examined his squad, all the spartans in the room wore MJOLNIR armor but it was far from standardized in the configuration that every one uses. Jason was busy tapping on the his TAC pad that was mounted on his left arm. His right arm was covered in a bracer for extra armor, Jason's left shoulder had a large multi-threat shoulder pad to protect his foreword side, is right was a basic mark V. The assault/ commando set up on the chest piece of his armor held extra gear, the soft case on his leg held 40mm grenades for the under slung grenade launcher that was mounted on his BR55 rifle. His operator helmet sat on a shelf near by. Like all member of the team he used the FJ Para knee pads and except for the snipers on the team his armor was a base steel with a differing secondary color, his was white. John glanced to his left and saw Mustafa Carrro, the teams breaching specialist, loading more shotgun shells then a human being could need into his chest breacher and the assault breacher fore arm guards. Being the breacher he had a more up armored set up with the large CQC shoulder guards and the grenadier kneepads. His up armored mark V bravo helmet sat on the bench near by, as he loaded his own MA37 with a under slung shotgun he called "The master key" he was distinguished by the red secondary color of his armor. He looked over at John with his green eyes set in his tan face. His Hispanic heritage showed in his black hair and tanned skin,

"Hold still damn it" Angelica said in her Hispanic accent. Angelica was busy patching up a cut that Robert had on his face from leave when he got to drunk. Angelica was the team's medic, she wore an EVA helmet so she could see better when she had to treat wounds, and she kept a trauma kit on her leg and used bracers to protect her fore arm. She used the GUNGINR shoulder pads; a TAC LRP set up carried her extra medically gear and ammo. Her visor was blue and hid her blue eyes, black hair and young face despite her nearly thirty years of service. She was distinguished by her teal secondary color, and her blunt attitude. Her current patient Robert shifted in his armor. He was the team grenadier, and carried a grenade launcher that he took care of like a child. He all ready had his rifle slung and placed his mark V alpha helmet on his head covering up his blonde hair and blue eyes. His armor was covered in grenades and a large plate protected his stomach in the usual counterassault set up. He had large commando shoulder plates and a soft case on his leg carried more grenades. His arms were both protected by bracers and he was distinguished by his sage secondary color. Damon and Jack sat in a corner talking quietly. Both had grown up as good friends, Jack was a pilot and Damon was the demolitions expert. Damon used an up armored pilot helmet, jump jet shoulder pads, TAC LRP set up, a GPS on his right arm and a bracer protected his left. He was more distinguished by his maroon secondary color. Damon used large CQC shoulder plates, grenadier knee pads, and fore arm bracers to add more armor. The EOD helmet made his job obvious, he destroyed stuff. The team mechanic Yazid was praying in a corner, he was a devout Muslim. He had his mark VI helmet sitting next to him by the prayer matt, the ODST shoulder plates protected his upper arms and bracers protected his lower arms. He used a sapper chest set up and hard case to carry his tool kit and hacking gear. The squads snipers walked into the room, their arm was similar in every way save for the second color, Julies was steel and Marie's was forest green. They used the scout helmet and a tactical patrol chest rig. The right shoulders of the sniper had more rounds storied in them, and the right was an operator set up. Both used GPSs on their right arm and bracers on the left, the soft cases of both held extra ghille suit material should the active camouflage system fail. The snipers armor was sage in color except for their distinguishing second color. John picked up his commando helmet with the up armored plate and FC-I unit. His left arm carried his TAC pad and his right was protected by a bracer. He used a TAC recon set up to carry extra gear and ammo, his shoulders were protected by the operator plates and the hard case on his leg held more equipment. His steel armor was seconded by a dark gold color.

"Let's get to hells waiting room boys" John said placing his helmet on his head. The squad stood and marched out of their assigned locker room and into the halls of the _Bushnell_. The waiting room was a large open area, and through the door at the one end of the room leads to the drop room. Sierra squad went to one of the benches and they sat down, waiting for the drop time. John checked his weapons again; he had a full combat load of ammo for his assault rifle and M6C/SOCOM pistol. The men and women in his squad were checking their weapons over. Most of the Squad used the assault rifle as their primary weapon and the standard issued pistol to the spartans the M6C/SOCOM pistol. Jason and Jack both used the BR55 rifle, and had an under slung "forty mike-mike". Julie and Marie both used the SRS99 rifles that they kept slung until they need them and used SMGs as their primary weapon.

"All right listen up, keep your eyes down range, and finger on the trigger and we all make it back here in one piece" John said. Everyone in the room was nervous; despite being the best of the best the UNSC had any man would be nervous when they had to drop from orbit into battle against an unknown enemy. Ack-Ack walked in, the entire company looked from were they sat or stood and looked up at the man.

"Get in your pods spartans, and remember the strength of the wolf is in the pack!" Ack-Ack said as he snapped to attention. Every spartan was on their feet, the Easy company emblem was emblazoned on their right shoulder, a Wolf.

"The strength of the pack is in the wolf!" the spartans yelled back finishing the motto. All two hundred and seventy spartans headed for the drop room. The drop room had only enough pods that one could enter for one platoon; however the stacked design would allow more men to be able to drop. The drop command come over the loud speaker "seventh platoon load up and prepare to drop". John approached the HEV pod and placed his weapons into the slots that held them during the drop. The HEV had changed somewhat since the Great War, it was more streamlined and it had been improved to withstand all sorts of heat to make sure no one backed in it or the skin melted and they fell out. John stepped in and the pods hatch closed, the pods was the exact same shape but the glass viewports were not there and it was a solid steel hatch. The inside of the pod had all sorts of monitoring equipment.

"Sierra listen up, John said over his squads comm. NET "as soon as we hit the ground, we will more then likely be engaged immediately"

"Great, I hoped we could get some time to get to now the Tango's" Damon said in his usual cynical manor. The screen in Johns pod switched to a count down.

3, 2, 1…_here we go_ john thought as he felt his stomach rise into this chest. The next five minutes were only able to be called hell. The pod heated up and sweat began to gather on the spartans fore head, the air brake deployed causing the pod to jolt.

"Thirty Seconds!" John yelled over the comm. NET of his squad.

Javor lead his squad on a patrol through the unknown species city's streets. His grip on his rifle was solid as he watched for hostiles. The seven men that he had backing him up followed him; they had followed him since the beginning of the ground war. The solders of this race that had been slowly colonizing their system, activating relays illegally and even had the audacity to destroy a Turian cruise ship, their solders used weapons that punched through their barriers in only one our two shots and if you got hit not even med-gel could help you sometimes. A strange sound drew his attention and he raised his fist, his team crouched down and started to scan the buildings trigger fingers itchy, the enemy also had shields but they could take more punishment then their kinetic barriers were capable of handling. It took at least ten to twelve shots to drop the enemy's shields. Javor noticed the sound was getting steadily louder until it was drowning most others out, then he realized were it was coming from and he looked up. His fellow turian's eyes went wide as massive steel something landed on their Sargent. The front of it went flying off as more of the things smashed into the ground and the hatches flew off them. The squad raised their weapons and fired at the massive solider that jumped out of it. Its energy shields flared but before they could drop them they were dead.

John didn't stop and look at the aliens that they had just killed, he and his squad were all ready moving through the bombarded streets of the city. The squad came to a street corner and lined up along the wall under an over hanging, they reloaded their weapons since they were now in adequate cover for a moment.

"Major, we got movement around the corner" Jason said. John glanced to his motion tracker, the small twenty five meter tracker was had more red dots then a glance would let him count.

"Julie scout it out" John ordered, the sniper moved foreword the active camouflage system active, she moved slowly to keep the system running better. She crossed the street, the only reason that the squad knew were she was is the IFF marker over her head visible only through their HUD's.

"Sir, I count around thirty Tangos' down range. They have a vehicle and it is certainly armed"

"We could sneak around and keep the element of surprise on that relay station" Damon said.

"No we have to get to that relay ASAP" John said "Marie join Julie and give us sniper support, every one else move up, Alpha on me. Bravo move up the left side" Marie moved quickly across the street. John held up three fingers, and dropped them slowly when the last one fell, John and his men rushed out from cover and up the street. The ten guns of the spartans roared to life as they sent plasma encased rounds at their enemy, a few Tango's were dropped from the onslaught and the two poor basterds that the sniper had targeted exploded as the round smashed into them. John reached a burned out car and took cover just as his shields flared up when Tango had finally figured out to return fire. Yazid appeared next to him, crouching behind the car, he peaked over the car. Gunfire filled the air. John stood up and quickly saw five Tangos forty meters down range taking cover behind a wrecked truck trailer. John squeezed burst off and three tango's dropped dead. Angelica was farther back behind a dumpster and was suppressing a group of tangos in the center of the street that had taken cover in a carter.

"Covering fire, Alpha moving up!" John yelled to his brother and his fire team "alpha move up and take the crater in the street!"

"Ready, Go!" John yelled. The alpha fire team stormed up from behind cover and started for the carter running at full tilt. Any tango dumb enough to break cover received a burst of assault rifle fire and death. John jumped into the crater and right on top of one of the tango's, yanked his knife fro its sheath and plunged it hilt deep into the alien's bony head. The other tango's received similar fates from the other members of alpha fire team, John's shields flared as a group of tango's flanked them but they were mowed down by his rifle and fire from bravo. "Reloading!" John yelled out as he dropped the magazine and slid a fresh one in and hit the bolt release. The ground in front of the crater erupted from enemy fire and the other team members moved to the front of the foxhole John looked over the edge and saw the vehicle that Julie had pointed out laying down fire with what was obviously a heavy machine gun of sorts. A tango tried to move cover but a loud shoot was audible over the other sounds of the battle and the tango's head exploded and the front of the enemy armor was covered in a black blood. John ducked back down.

"Jason, move up slowly and keep cover!" John yelled. Yazid stood up quickly and fired at the vehicle.

"That thing has shields!" Yazid said "sir, if I can get to it I could take it out!"

"Ok, Angelica, Damon grenades on my mark!" John ordered "Mark!" Three frags flew and landed on the concrete street, a cloud of dust, guts and blood from tango's erupted when the grenades went off. Yazid sprinted to the vehicle and jumped on top of it and ripped a hatch open.

"Covering Fire!" Jason yelled as the Muslim spartan sprinted form the crater, any tango' were suppressed. Yazid threw a grenade in, jumped from the enemy armor and when he landed rolled behind a barrier nearby. The explosion nearly broke the safety guards in John's helmet.

"Move up!" Jason yelled and the eight spartans moved foreword to the end of the street and took out the last few tangos.

"Julie, Marie regroup" John said "up this street lets move, alpha right side, bravo left side"

Trexo stood in the command center in the southern area of the city, a Turian officer came running in.

"Sir, our anti-air batteries are under attack. We have reports of solders dropping in from the sky" the officer said. Trexo slammed his hands into the TAC map and growled.

"Sir?" the officer said.

"We can not lose this planet, we will need reinforcements" Trexo said "get me command"

Trexo waited and an officer brought him a communicator linked to the command ship.

"We got a problem, sir the enemy is dropping troops everywhere I got reports of some sort of super solders running lose. My anti-air is nearly gone, I need reinforcements!" Trexo said.

"We have our own issues up here, those four ships we say we when we arrived are nothing. We are bleeding ships up here, I all ready sent a call to the military base at Macrage!" the commander said "we my not last the night up here!" Trexo put the communicator down, he looked down.

"Sir, what's going on?" Trexo's xo asked.

"We came here to stop this race from taking our system, to put them in their place, and enforce our laws and now all we may find is death"

John and his squad found the relay out post; it was a four story building with a massive dish on top of it. Tango's had set up machine guns around the entrance, and controlled the structure.

"Ok, Jason take bravo and move round to the right side of the building, Damon go with them leave me Carrero"

"Major, there is no door on that side" Robert said.

"Then I will make one" Damon said and everyone knew he was smiling under his helmet.

"Me and Alpha plus the sniper team will attack through the front, Bravo when you here the enemy engage us make your door and go right for the relay control and get it linked" John said "move out"

Jason motioned for his fire team to follow him, they slunk back and moved through the alley way, three tangos sat at the end of the alley, they were obviously not on watch because they would see the spartans slip into the alley and take cover in the shadows.

"Three tango's, use your silenced pistol" Jason said slinging his rifle and drawing his pistol and taking a bead on a tango who was leaning up against a wall.

"On my mark" The other spartans drew their pistols and aimed.

"Mark" Jason whispered and the tangos dropped when the rounds smashed through their shields and into the tango's flesh. The enemies dropped and Jason redrew his rifle. They made it to the wall and Damon planted a charge on the wall. The fire team stacked up against the wall, waiting for the go.

"John in position" Jason said.

"Roger that, thirty seconds. Alpha Engage!" John yelled. The sounds of gunfire came pouring around the corner as John engaged the tangos. When it was five second to time to breach Jason held up his hand and counted down. He closed his fist and Damon blew the charge, the C7 explosive put a nice sized hole in the wall of the building. Jason, Damon, Robert and Jack stormed through the hole, a group of tangos on the other side were busy trying to stand but bravo fire team mowed them down. They moved into the building firing at any tango that came at them, they reached a door that lead to a stairway and Jason kicked it down and stormed in, a tango who was running down the stairs received a steel boot to the face. The tango was crushed and the fire team moved the stairs to the top floor.

"Jason movement outside the door" Robert said "recommend we frag and clear"

"Stack up frag and clear" Jason said and he and Damon went to the left of the door. Jack and Robert went to the other side of the door. Jason kicked the door down by swing his leg back so not to expose himself to fire. The enemy still fired enough to take his shields out from the sheer volume of fire. A frag grenade flew into their mists and exploded, blood and guts filled the hall as the spartans stormed in and the tangos in the control room were ready and the spartans came under heavy fire. Fire team bravo moved to the sides and took cover were they could, Jason was in a doorway.

"No frags! We need those consoles to work!" Jack yelled out. The spartans fired and slowly the tangos thinned.

"Charge them!" Jason yelled and he and his fire team charged foreword and took out any tangos that stood up to fire at them. The fire team took control of the center room, its octagon shaped console set up. Three of the tangos had raised their hands in the universal surrender sign, two of those who did were caught in the cross fire, the one who survived got on his knees and placed his hands behind his head. Jack walked up and pointed his rifle at the tango.

"You know the ROE, gunny" Jason said "Rob, get the relay relinked"

"Yes captain" Jack said as he squeezed a burst off and killed the tango. Rob got the relay linked with command and John had finished clearing the lower floors.

"Jason, the buildings clear" John said "we will stay down here and keep it secure"

"Roger that the relay is linked, we will join you" Jason said "bravo move out"

John set his rifle down on a desk along with his helmet. He took the direct link communicator and raised Ack-Ack on it.

"Sir, Sierra 1 here, primary objective secure we are planning to move to the secondary objective" John said.

"Negative Sierra 1. you have a new secondary objective move to grid 34-57 and hold position" Ack-Ack said "also you are being switched to a new command sometime tonight for a unspecified amount of time"

"Roger command" John said "Sierra out"

Jason and his fire team had arrived downstairs and the squad had gathered around John.

"Ok, we have a new objective" John said "get ready to move" John placed his helmet back on his head. The radio in his helmet beeped and a smooth female voice came over the squad's network.

"Sierra 1, come in"

"This is Sierra 1, go ahead" John said.

"You have your new objective, move there and hold position; an enemy frigate will be landing there at an undetermined time. The frigate will be under control by us"

"Ma'am who is this?" John asked.

"Sierra squad, you belong to ONI now, move out"


	3. Conspiracy

**Wow, eight reviews and now im up to 16 fav's and 19 alerts for only two chapters. Now for those wondering how the Turian ship survived the MAC your answer lies in the story below.**

Trevnor sat in his office on the space craft that he worked form unless his presence was absolutely necessary. The other councilors did this as well, the citadel could run its self and traveling around the controlled space was part of the job. He had just finished talking with his fellow councilors about some trivial matters that he cared little for. He was far more word about what was going on in the Charon system, a battle over a colony of a race that few knew little of, humanity. Trevnor knew a good deal about humanity and his worry was not for the troops that were sent to the world but that his master plan would go according to his plan. He stood and walked to the wall, he pressed his hand against it and a large portion of the wall slid open allowing the councilor access to the secrets within. He walked to a room that had a great view into the space beyond the citadel. All around the room were projectors and a chair for the councilor who seat down and waited. A few seconds later the VI of the comm. room spoke.

"Councilor Trevnor, incoming transmissions from your allies" the VI said. Projector whirred and the quantum entanglers sprang to life around the room. The councilor watched as a holographic image of his compatriots appeared. A few Turians appeared, most of them military officers and some of them highly ranking public officials for the Turian hierarchy, including the leader of the guard of the primarch of the hierarchy, along with some of his more trusted advisors. Some of the high ranking public officials of the batarian government were present as well, and across from Trevnor sat the prophet of truth.

"Gentlemen, I have gathered you all to tell you are months of planning have now been set in motion" Trevnor began "The war we have planned is beginning, the public however is not aware of it yet, they soon will be"

"Why do you wait to announce to the rest of the Turian race this war?" one of the batarian asked.

"Because, we are the aggressors as of the moment" Nithlo Artuerius began "if we wait and make sure that the humans invade the rest of the system we can make them appear to be the aggressor. They have not control of council space or its media; with our control we can make them the attackers and us the victims. The first step to that began with the attack we staged on that Turian cruise ship"

"How can we be sure that the humans will invade?" the second of the four batarian asked.

"What do you learn in basic about when you are attacked and you don't know were from?" Nithlo asked the batarian "ill tell you, you create a perimeter and secure the area. Scale that up on a galactic level and any commander with half a brain cell will secure the immediate star system. The system has three major Turian colonies in it that are used as mining stations for the asteroid belts that fill the system"

"So when the humans move to secure the area, they will invade three of your colonies that are major population centers, and have an extreme economic value behind them" the batarian who asked the question said.

"Preciously Eluam. Then we seal records on the Shanxi invasion, make the connection between humans and the cruise liner ship being destroyed. We get the public's backing, the entire Turian military mobilizes for war and so does are allies, and the batarian who feel it is their duty to help stop these aggressors. With all 'the newly' discovered tech we have insulted on our ships we will be able to have a force that can defeat these humans, and we still have our triumph card" Trevnor said gesturing to the prophet.

"The Covenant will aid you in this venture to retake our worlds and avenge our defeat. These humans desecrate our god's holy relics and even have the audacity to call us heathens and heretics" Truth said banging his hand on his power chair.

"Don't worry Truth, we will make sure you have your revenge" Trevnor said "and that the batarians get the council set that they have been asking for, for the last one hundred years"

"So what, we now have control of that area?" Necrix, the Turian primarch chief guardsmen said "then what?"

"That entire sector is rich with resources, untouched mines of element zero and in it lays technology that can put the Turians and our allies in this endeavor on top were we belong. We could build a fleet behind the prying eyes of the council inspectors, one that is far more advanced then the asari. They have ruled for far to long, we will be able to use all this new stuff to take citadel space and even the terminus system under one union" Trevnor said "with the humans attacking us we will get support from the Asari and Salarians. We can even unite the Krogans with us promising them war and a 'cure' for the genophage"

All the assembled people nodded as the councilor spoke, Truth smiled at the idea of getting revenge for the humans destroying the empire that his grandfather had ruled. They could strike at the traitors Sangheili, and began once again along the path to the great journey.

"What about the Union?" Nithlo asked looking at Trevnor.

"The Union?" He asked in a joking term "the Union will be crushed like humanity, Truth's empire can be sure of that along with our fleets and the fleets of the rest of the council races with the technology we have been more or less receiving from the Covenant no one will stand in our way" Trevnor stood and raised a glass of Turian scotch "Gentlemen we can finally unite the galaxy, take what should be ours and bring order to the chaos of this world"

Trevnor smiled as the assembled races clapped, _I will see to it that my race rules all these half wits. It's a public service in fact to show the lesser races that they don't belong on the same tier as us_.

February 26th 3232 0945, on board the UNSC prowler _Black Dog_

Hudson stood at the screen in the briefing room on the _black dog_, his team sat in front of him.

"As you know when the tango's first arrived they engaged the five frigates over Shanxi, they managed to destroy them all and most of the crew abandon ship. The Cole protocol was activated and the enemy has made no attempt to search the wreckage. The thing is that from the battle we know one MAC round will destroy the tangos vessels in one shot, however the first ship that we fired upon was not destroyed" Hudson pulled a video up and two film clips from UNSC vessels bridge cameras that the fire control technicians used to retarget enemy ships. Both videos were paused and Hudson pointed to the first one.

"This is a video from a surveillance satellite; the enemy ship I highlighted is the one that the Miranda fired upon. The one to the right of it was fired upon by the Leckie during the first salvos of the opening battle" both videos played. The ship that the _leckie _fired upon exploded but it slowed down when the round hit it, Hudson stopped the video.

"If you look you can see how the ships shields appear to brake and bend more like glass, this has been observed as common among the enemy vessels" Hudson played the video from the _Miranda_, the tango ship rocked from the impact on the shields but that is not what the team was staring at.

"As you can see this ship's shields did not brake like the other ships" Hudson said as he looked at the video. The ships shields broke but didn't shatter like glass as the other ones did, it exploded off the ship and energy arched around the craft.

"Hudson, that looks like a Covenant shield braking" Chris Sheppard said sitting foreword in his seat "I don't like this"

"And neither does ONI, the UNSC, or the Union" Hudson said "that's why we drafted Operation: Splinter" Hudson grabbed three folders and placed them in front of the three ONI Black Ops Spartans. Arianna opened the folder and saw a picture of one of the hostile ships.

"This is the ship we are going to capture, designated D-05" Hudson said "its length is roughly two-hundred and sixteen meters from bow to stern. Based on observation we have guessed it has around four decks and a hanger bay, located at the rear of the ship"

"That our ticket in then?" Harris asked looking up, his dark brown eyes studying the screen.

"No, its not" Hudson said "our weapons would do too much damage to the ship for it to worth more than scrape and we need it intact as possible for study. Also this ship is crucial since it is another one suspected of having covenant shield tech. We will board the enemy vessel and landed it at grid 34-57. There will be a ground team there that will join up with and guard the ship until ONI arrives and then we hook up with friendlies and jump on the bandwagon head towards the big win" Hudson looked at his team with his brown eyes. The team looked back at their leader; his bald head and scared face were the result of years of service.

"Hudson, we don't know how to fly that ship" Harris asked "and who is this fifth member listed in the dossier? Sarah Winters?" the holotank in the room activated and a hologram of a women appeared. She had long hair and wore the standard working uniform of the navy minus the cover.

"Meet Sarah, our new operational AI" Hudson said.

"Pleased to finally meet my team, to answer your question Mr. Harris I will be uploaded in the enemy spacecraft and download any and all data and make sure you make back to ground in one piece" the AI said smiling at him.

"Hudson, how do we even get on board?" Arianna asked. Hudson smiled and put his signature sunglasses on.

"That's the fun part" Hudson said.

February 26th 3232, 1814 SMT/ Shanxi/ Westcroft

John sprinted down the street and slid over the hood of a wrecked car. He quickly crouched behind it as the enemy's hypersonic rounds soared over head, his shields were knocked out on his run from his position and the slowly seeping sensation of pain told him he was hit in his shoulder. His suits medical systems had all ready gone to work, injecting anti biotic medicine and quick clotting agent in to the wound to staunch the bleeding.

"Sir, your hit" Yazid said looking at the small trickle of blood that flowed from the major's shoulder.

"Yeah, armor took most of the force. That round hit a soft spot though, feels like a bee-sting" Jason said.

"Major, you need to work on your speed some; maybe you would not get hit" Yazid said as he fired from cover.

"you could be faster yourself" Jason said as he felt the pain leave his shoulder and quickly popped up and returned fire at the tangos down the street.

"I could but Allah will protect me" Yazid said.

"Shut up and keep shooting" John said shouldering his rifle and popping up. He fired a quick burst and dropped another tango; however his near one hundred and thirty comrades kept coming. The fact that the enemy was also backed by five tanks didn't help them. Jason's fire team was farther back along the street; they were laying down as much suppressing fire as they could to let John and his team move back. The tactic was created in the 1900's as a way to break contact and keep moving they called leap frogging.

"John we haft to get off the street!" Jason yelled over the comm. NET.

"Angelica, Damon move back!" John ordered. The two spartans broke into a dead sprint and dived for cover just as Angelica's shields gave out under the hail of rounds, Damon jumped over a barrier and landed behind it and instantly started firing back at the tangos as they moved down the road at the spartans. John hit Yazid in the leg lightly and the Muslim crouched back down. John nodded and Yazid returned the gesture and the two broke cover and ran for the next position. The two made it and now the eight spartans were forming a firing line and started to fire at the enemy.

"Robert, use the swarmers!" Jason yelled to the grenadier. Robert grabbed the M372 grenade launcher from his hip and loaded in one of the M007 "swarmer" grenades. Robert peeked over the top of the wrecked UNSC tank that they had taken cover behind, his HUD highlighted seven targets. Robert took and brought the launcher up lines appeared from the highlighted targets and went to the barrel of his weapon. He raised the barrel up to give the small anti-personal guide missiles an arc to their trajectory to hit any targets behind cover. Robert pulled the trigger and the shell flew from the end of the barrel and the seven small missiles rocketed out of the shell. It looked like the old world javelin firing. The grenadier slid back into cover as the small explosions from down the street told him that the rounds hit their mark. He grinned under his helmet, _and only a grenadier is qualified with this weapon_,_ how did I land the best job on this squad?_ He thought to himself.

"John, sniper team in position" Julie said over the comm. NET. John had sent the sniper team up into one of the buildings to help call in fire support. The only support available to them was air, artillery was not approved due to the fact command didn't want the fire to hit any civilians. The sound of the snipers rifles joined the chaos of noise that filled the street as Marie and Julie began to pick targets and fire.

"Major, there is too many and we need those tanks taken out!" Jack yelled as one of the mentioned tanks fired a round at the spartans position, more rounds followed as the tanks fired in a volley at the entrenched spartans. John switched his NET to the fire support NET and activated the radio.

"This is Sierra 1, requesting fire support!" yelled over the communicator network.

"Roger that Sierra 1, what is your current position?" the operator on the other end asked.

"We are holding position at grid 31-43, half click in the grid!" John said. He stood and fired his weapon; the rounds collided with an unfortunate tango that fell limp as a round passed through the alien's skull.

"Understood, AC-170 is on its way ETA thirty seconds patching your NET through to AC-170 'Dark knight'" the fire support NET operator said "good luck sierra"

John stood up and fired at the advancing tangos with his squad, the crack of the sniper rifles and roar of the assault rifles filled the air as the spartans continued to pour plasma encased rounds at the advancing enemy.

"Reloading" Robert shouted after he fired another swarmer grenade from his launcher. Angelica dropped down behind the wreaked tank that she, Robert, Jason, Yazid, and Carrero had taken cover behind.

"Shields down!" Angelica yelled. Carrero fired his assault rifle in quick burst; he was in his zone with a MA37 in his hands. John fired his assault rifle dry and ducked back down behind the barrier he was hiding behind.

"Sierra 1, this is Dark Knight we are on station and awaiting your direction" the fire controller of the AC-170 reaper said. The reaper was a ship designed solely to be a close in air support craft for the infantry. It was a long craft; its shape resembled that of the pre-space age era bomber the B2. It was armed with four 30mm Gatling guns, 2 m512 90mm high velocity cannons and a 155mm artillery cannon. All the weapons were able to retract into the aircraft, the only limitation the craft had was the weapons all stuck out of its left side. The craft was not used as the most common support vehicle; the hornet and falcon were the most common. The reaper however had one advantage; its engines could push it to mach 2 to let the craft zoom around the field to get fire on targets as soon as possible. Its only other limitation was numbers, only three were available in the entire 9th MEF.

"Roger that, see every tango at the end of the street? Fuck them up!" John said over the radio.

"Understood, no 155mm fire available command is still not letting artillery be fired" the fire control tech. on Dark Knight said "sierra Squad enjoy the fireworks"

The reaper opened fire on the tangos, the Gatling guns fired at such a high rate of fire that it made a visible beam of rounds. The two M512's, the same cannon used by the scorpion tank, made short work of the enemy tanks. The streets end was filling with dead tangos; the spartans didn't even bother firing at the enemy as the reaper claimed the life of every alien at the end of the road.

"Sierra regroup and lets get moving" John said when the fire stopped. The road was smoking, the five dead enemy tanks smoldered.

"Major, that street went from a concrete gray to a tango blood black really quick" Marie said.

"Dark knight thanks for the assist" John said as he took of at a jog down the road, his squad followed him.

"No problem sierra" the pilot of the craft said "go get em boys. Oh shit incoming missiles! Hang on!" John skidded to a stop and looked up as the reaper flew over head, a missiles streaking after it. The first missile smashed into the craft and its shields flared but held strong, the next two hit the craft as it tried to pull up and fire its engine but it didn't manage it as three more missiles slammed into it, the first and second took the shields down and the last one hit the engine of the gunship. The craft started to spin out of control.

"This is Dark Knight we are going down, mayday! We are hit and going down" the pilot said. The gunship crashed into the city but the spartans could not see exactly were, the squad stood still after the crash for only a second before they took off at a dead sprint for the crash site.

"Jason take bravo and get ride of the triple a. everyone else form up on me and lets go secure that crash sight" John ordered. Jason, Robert, Jack, and Damon cut their run and went sprinting off in the other direction, towards were the missile had originated from.

"Sierra 1 to ONI" John said as he connected to their new commanders NET.

"This is Colonel Monroe, go ahead" the ONI officer that the squad had been temporally put under said, his voice monotone and flat.

"We have a downed Reaper, we are moving to secure the crash sight" John said as he rounded a street corner, his fire team in two behind him.

"Roger that, make sure you get to gird 34-57 by twenty hundred hours" Colonel Monroe said his voice was now concerned "save those airmen and then get over to that grid point"

February 26th 3232 1215 SMT/ UNSC Prowler _Black Dog_:

Hudson and his team stood in the hanger of the prowler; they were already dressed in the straight black armor that ONI spartan teams used. They had differing set ups but there was no distinguishing marks on the suit. The team was armed with the M8 SMG, a weapon special made for the office of naval intelligence. It used the PER in a magazine that was slid on to the top of the weapon and had a long barrel with a silencer but directly into the weapon. The spartan teams that ONI used to carry out its dirty work got issued PER's different then those given to all other troops. The rounds used a special gas mixture that made the plasma that encased the round glow in a spectrum of light above what any living being could see as apposed to the blue glow given off by the standard PER.

Hudson's team approached a unique space craft that sat in the hanger of the prowler, a M345 "Katana". The M345 was designed by the ONI contractors to be a stealth surveillance vessel but I had been built up to include more uses. It had only a few defensive weapons; the main armament of the katana was the EMP blast it could give off to disable any ships that came to close to it. Its advanced cloaking technology made it completely invisible to sight, heat sensors, radar, and sonar. The katana's speed was matched only by the Saber fighter. The spartan team walked up the small loading ramp on its underside and into the vessel. It was crewed by four men and could support up to ten personal for three months before it need to return to a port or ship to resupply. The ramp closed behind the spartans and the katana lifted off the hanger's deck and head for the vacuum of space.

Hudson and his team went to the front of the craft and sat down in the seats. Hudson however went to the cockpit and looked out the view ports. The craft took off at full speed as it circled around the planet, its cloaking system activated to hide it from all but the prowler that had its IFF tag.

"All systems green, we are dark" the pilot said as he backed off the throttle to slow up for the approach to the enemy fleet.

"Good, as soon as we are on that ship bug out. We don't need you to get hit in the cross fire" Hudson said as he turned and walked back to his team and sat down.

"Hudson are you sure that this plan will work? We have never tried something like this before" Arianna said as she picked up the high power plasma cutting torch from the locker near her seat.

"I am sure and if it doesn't that means we just kick a window in"

"That would kill any tangos in the room, we need prisoners" Harris said.

"Yes but we need that ship more" Hudson said. The team remained silent as the katana flew through space, each wondered if this would work.

"Major Hudson, ETA to the objective one minute" the pilot said as he looked back and leaned out of his seat.

"Ok, team get to the airlock" Hudson ordered. The four spartans placed the jetpacks that they were issued on to the back of their armor and the plasma torch each had on to the magnetic strip on their belts. The spartans walked into the air lock, the door closed and sealed behind them. The commander of the katana came over the comm. NET and addressed the team.

"We are about to fire the EMP" the commander said. This was followed by a strange zapping sound.

"The enemy ship has lost its main power, get going"

Hudson hit the button to open the airlock and the vacuum of space engulfed them. The magnetized boots of their armor kept them on the deck of the ship. Hudson walked to the open door and saw the enemy vessel only twenty feet below him; he jumped from the airlock and used the jetpack to help guide him as he floated towards the ship. His boots touched the ship and the magnets kicked in keeping him on his new floor.

"Lets go" Hudson said to the other three spartans. The others quickly jumped off form the airlock's edge and to the ship. When the team had assembled on the crafts hull they moved towards the bottom of the ship going slow to keep themselves locked down on the vessels hull. The team made it to where they were going to cut into the ship, Hudson knelt down and pulled the torch off of his belt and began to cut the ships hull. The other team members began to cut as well so that the square they were making on the hall could get cut through.

"Come on cut faster!" Hudson yelled. The team only had around two minutes before the power came back on and the enemy ships shields would knock them off the hull. The cutting finally stopped and a bunch of air came pouring out of the slice. Hudson then pulled the piece out and looked in the hole. Like the UNSC vessels, the tangos put the power lines and other such things in between the outer hull and an inner hull that had access panels to maintain the ships power lines and other important connection lines. Hudson moved the wires a lines out of the way of what he could tell was a service panel and used the ever useful tool duck tape to hold them in place. The opening was barely big enough for the spartans to slip through but that was with out the jet packs.

"Shed the packs and go in quietly" Hudson whispered to his team. The others nodded and four jetpacks went floating off into space. Arianna opened the access panel and slid into the enemy ship, Harris went next and then Shepherd. Hudson slid through last and pulled the piece they cut out into its hole and switched the plasma torch to a wielding setting and wield the panel in place. When he finished the room was filled with air and sound once again joined the spartans.

The Turian captain of the frigate _Swift Justice_ stood on the ridge looking at the map of the space in front of him. When all the sudden the room darkened and the emergency lights came on and the life supports back up generator kicked in.

"Report, what the fuck just happened" the captain asked. His ship was no were near the combat zone and was waiting to extract a group of wounded solders on the ground and take them back to Traxit for medical treatment.

"Sir, we lost power to the main reactor. Should be back up in five minutes" said one of the bridge crew. The captain drummed his finger as he waited, but a series of thuds drew his attention.

"Great what ever that was knocked the kinetic barriers out as well and now we have debris hitting our ship" the captain said throwing his hands up. The power came back on in a few minutes and the lights flickered back on.

"Sir, sensors detect damage to the hull, portside" another crew member said.

"We got hit by debris dumbass" one of his comrades said. The sound of the door at the rear of the CIC opening drew the ten Turians in the room to it. The door opened to reveal four black armored things that were most defiantly not Turian. The four things opened fire on the Turian crew who went to draw their side arms. The captain went for his but one of the hostiles ran up and kicked the pistol out of his hand and broke the bones in the captain's hand in the process. The enemy then tackled the captain to the ground and tied his hands behind his back. Despite being captured the captain was grateful that the hostile made sure not to land one him, the thing weighed more than a fully grown Krogan.

February 26th 3232, 1317 SMT/ Enemy Vessel in high orbit over Shanxi:

Hudson stood up after he tackled the tango, the aliens hand was bleeding porously. The other members of his team were busy securing all the aliens that had surrendered. Hudson reached into the hard case on his leg and pulled out a chip that contained the AI, Sarah. He slid it into a slot on the consol that the alien had been standing up at.

"Wow, this place sure has a lot of intelligence" Sarah said as her avatar appeared over the console.

"Sarah, see if you can get me some way to communicate with the aliens" Hudson said before he hailed the katana that held position over the enemy vessel "we are in and securing the ship go ahead and return to the black dog"

Hudson looked around the bridge, _at least it think this is the bridge_ he thought to himself, of the enemy vessel. His team had secured all the hostiles on the bridge by now and they were walking his way.

"Hey Ice cube, area secure" Shepherd said lowering his SMG to his side.

"Good now secure the rest of the vessel" Hudson said "Sarah, how is that translator coming?"

"Its done ill transfer it to your armors CPU" the AI said "and get us headed for the ground"

Hudson looked in his HUD and saw a small bar pop up and fill, indicating the download was completed. Hudson turned to the alien and activated the speakers on his helmet. Hudson grabbed the alien and flipped him over so he could see the things avian, boney face.

"Now, you are going to tell me exactly what I want to know" Hudson said to the alien as he crouched down.

February 26th, 3232 1850 SMT/ Shanxi/ Westcroft:

Jason looked around the corner of the building he and his team had taken cover behind. He saw the tango's missile sit sitting on a top of a VTOL pad, around twenty hostiles were guarding it.

"Twenty tangos, the SAM site is on top of the VTOL pad" Jason said "here is the plan, Robert use a swarmer, me, Jack and Damon will charge them" his team nodded. Jason held up three fingers and Robert drew his launcher and looked around the corner. When Jason dropped all his fingers Robert fired and the three other spartans went tearing out from behind their cover. The tangos who weren't hit by the swarmers were mowed down by the fire from the spartans weapons. Jason stopped at the top of the platform and looked at the missile pod; it was fifteen feet tall and was very angular in design.

"Damon, this thing is ugly get rid of it please" Jason said in a joking tone. The demolitions expert cracked his knuckles and walked up to the missile pod and began to set a charge on the SAM sight.

"Sierra Bravo to Sierra Alpha" Jason said over the Squads communication network.

"Go ahead Jason!" John yelled over the comm.'s.

"Tango lost his triple A, we are moving to your position as soon as Damon blows this thing sky high" Jason said.

"All right but make it quick we got lots of contacts and all the fire support is taken!" John said.

"Understood, bravo out" Jason said and closed the connection "Lets move out alpha needs our help!" the three other fire team members looked up and joined Jason as he sprinted off back towards the reapers crash sight. When they were safely away Damon detonated the charge and the area behind them light up in a nice big explosion. Jason patched his communicator over to the general command NET.

"Sierra 2, Bravo fire team to command" Jason said as he we ran around down the street running as fast as he could.

"Go ahead Sierra 2" the operator said over the NET.

"The triple A in grid 32-45 is down. The rest of sierra is under heavy fire at AC-170 Dark Knight's crash sight, request immediate air lift at my position!" Jason yelled as his shield flared when he rounded a street corner and a tango patrol started to fire at the four spartans. Jason dived for cover and his fire team followed suit, Jason ended up behind a newspaper stand.

"roger that Sierra 2, Super 64 is underway to your position ETA four minutes"

Jason closed the connection and began to return fire at the tangos. The group that was engaging the fire team was close to two full platoons by UNSC military groupings, that is to say the tangos were around sixty.

"Reloading cover me!" Robert yelled out as he dropped down behind a burned up car. Jason stood up and fired his BR57 on three round burst; he only had a few magazines left and wanted to be sure to have ammo when they arrived at the crash sight. Jason pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher he had and a group of tangos erupted into a bloody mess. The spartan took the momentary pause in fire that happened to move behind better cover, behind an over turned pick up truck. The enemy patrol tried to advance on the spartans position but any tango that left cover didn't last long and they were using cover a lot more.

"These guys are starting to get it we use bigger bullets then you and they hurt a lot more!" Damon said as he fired away at the enemy. The sound of jets caught Jason's attention as a UH-165 "Falcon" flew over head and started to fire at the tangos with its chin mounted gun. The craft circled over head, its ducted air fans roaring over the gunfire as it soared over head and started to land behind the squad of spartans.

"Get to the Falcon, move!" Jason yelled to his fire team. Damon broke cover and ran for the aircraft that was hovering only a foot above the ground and quickly turned the side mounted grenade launcher on the tangos. The other two ran for the Falcon as Jason slowly jogged backwards to the falcon, firing his rifle as he went. He backed up and sat on the floor of the aircrafts troop bay and it went soaring of banking away from the tango patrol as it did. Jason got off the floor and sat at the one seat that was at the back of the troop bay, he took of his helmet and pulled a ragout from one of his armors pouches and whipped his forehead with it.

"Jason look" Jack said as he pointed to their left. Fires raged in the horizon as the sunset on the first day of fighting on Shanxi, the sounds of gunfire in the distance reached the ears of the spartans. The city was in chaos as the two forces slugged it out, burning buildings filled the air with black clouds, and UNSC dropships filled the sky. Jason put his helmet back on over his head and watched the fires burn.

"ETA to the crash sight, one minute!" the pilot of the falcon yelled over the speaker.

February 26th 3232, 1923 SMT/ Shanxi/ Reaper crash sight:

John fired from his position of cover behind a piece of the reapers broken wing, the rounds glowing blue color and the muzzle flash lighting up the now darkened area as night fell on Shanxi. The craft had crashed into a four story building that was toppled from the crash and the reaper lay on top of the rubble like a lazy dog. The crew that were not injured were helping Angelica guard the entrance to an emergency bunker that was full of civilians that was located next to the building that the AC-170 head crashed into. John, Julie, Marie, Yazid, and Carrero had taken up firing positions in the wreckage of the fire support craft. The tangos attacked with nearly close to one hundred men and had made contact, that was fifteen minutes ago. Now it seemed every tango in the area was coming for them.

"Where is Jason?" Julie yelled after she fired another round from her sniper rifle.

"I don't know, but he will be here" John said firing another burst from his assault rifle into a tango that made the mistake of moving from cover.

"Im down to two magazines!" Carrero yelled as he dropped down and slid a fresh magazine into place. John grimaced and kept firing at the enemy as the tried to advance. Rounds pinged all around him as the tangos returned fire. The sound of jets reached johns ears and then the area and building where most of the tangos had taken cover was bombarded with grenades and 30mm machine gun fire. The tangos all turned their weapons on the source of the fire and john looked to see a Falcon flying overhead and Jason and his fire team all firing everything they had from the aircraft. Jason and Damon were on the machine guns while Robert fired what John knew was the last of the swarmer grenades at the enemy.

"Die you sons of bitchs die!" Jason yelled over the squad NET as he fired the grenade launcher that was mounted on the aircraft. The explosives made the street below the falcon and the building to its right a light show. The spartans in the wreckage of the reaper fired their weapons as the tangos all tried to run for better cover. The falcon helped to make short work of the tangos, which all either ran or died under the onslaught of death.

When the smoke finally cleared the falcon landed and the spartans on board disembarked, Jason walked towards his brother. John gave his brother a hug and grabbed both his shoulders.

"You made it" John said.

"I would have run all the way here brother" Jason said.

"I know" John said as he let go off his twin brother and lead the spartans over to the entrance of the emergency bunker. Angelica was busy working on the wounded crew members. John then patched his NET over to commands.

"Command this is sierra 1, crash sight secure" John said.

"Roger, that's good to hear" the command operator said to the spartan.

"We need MEDVAC for the crew and the civilians we found. If you could bring us some ground transport that would be nice as well" John said.

"Roger that, we will get some pelicans head your way"

"Roger that, Sierra 1 out"

John looked at his squad and smiled, _we fought like hell. We could actually win this thing_ he thought.

"Squad ammo count" John said. The squad pulled their magazines out and began to count what they had left.

"I got three mags for my BR and still a full load for my pistol" Jason said.

"I got twelve rounds for my sniper, haven't touched anything else" Julie said. When the squad finished giving their report about the minimal amount of ammo they had available to them, John sighed, _I hope those birds bring some ammo_. John took off his helmet and set it down some of his squad did the same and they sat down to take a breather. Jason sat down next to his brother and held his helmet in his lap. The civilians in the bunker were coming out now that the danger passed and the UNSC had forces guarding it.

"We did good today" Jason said leaning back against the wall.

"We did, but our day is far from over. When those pelicans get here we got to double time it for that grid point" John said he leaned his head back and closed his eyes "till then im taking a quick brake"

"I don't believe it!" a girls voice said causing the two men to look up and see a petite blonde haired girl staring at them "Jason and John Wells"

**Hope this was not to boring. So tell me what you think of the new tech I added and the Covenant working with the Turian councilor to take over. Till the next chapter**


	4. Shanxi retaken

**Well this story is getting a lot of positive feedback and its only chapter four. Just to clear something up that some one got confused with, the prophet of truth in this story is a descendent of the one from Halo. He inherited the title form his ancestor.**

February 26th 3232, 2012 SMT/ Shanxi/ Reaper crash sight:

John sat up and looked at the blonde women who came running their way. Her curly hair bounced on her shoulders, it was dirty and she needed to shower. Her jeans had dirt stains and the white shirt she wore was stained by blood and sweat.

"Who the fuck is that?" Jason asked looking at his brother, perplexed. John stood up from where he sat as the women reached them and wrapped her arms around the stunned spartan. John took the women and pulled her off of him; he held her arms and looked at her sternly.

"ma'am, do I know you?" John asked the women, he was none to happy about a strange women running up and hugging him even if he did help to save her. He was most concerned with how this stranger knew him and his brother.

"John, it's me" the women said. John just looked at her funny, his expression saying "uh, who are you?"

"John, who is this?" Robert asked as he tightened his grip a little on his rifle. The women's happy expression fell; she now looked down cast and a little heart broken.

"You really don't remember me do you?" the lady said "you know, no onion, extra barbecue sauce. Pepsi to drink"

John felt like a ton of bricks had just been lifted, he was shocked and couldn't believe he didn't recognize the girl standing in front of him.

"Oh my god, Kat!" John yelled as he hugged the girl being careful not to crush her. Jason's jaw nearly hit the floor as he his memories of the spunky blonde came back to him. Kat's face was surprised as the seven foot tall metal encased solider hosted her into the air, she smiled and looked down at John. The spartan set her down, he was grinning ear to ear.

"You remember your burger but not me, huh?" Kat said jokingly her hands on her hips.

"I didn't recognize you with all that grim on you" John said. Jason stood up and walked closer; he picked up his helmet and hooked it to his belt.

"Kat, wow, I did not expect to see you at all Eden Prime is at least six systems over. How did you end up on Shanxi?" Jason asked the women.

"I went to collage on Eden Prime and got my four year in medical science degree then finished med school. I was looking for a job and my roommate hooked me up here" Kat said "but that's boring, I know you both went into the military but you guys are spartans!" Kat was ecstatic. She could not believe that in the middle of a war, one she thought she might die in she would be rescued by her high school crush.

"This an old friend, Jason?" Damon asked as John and Kat started to talk about old times.

"Yeah, we went to high school on Eden Prime. She was two grade behind us and worked at the diner that me and John would eat at, at least once a week" Jason said "she had a crush on John the entire time"

"Wow, small world huh?" Damon said. The demolitions specialist's attention was shifted as the sound of roaring jets caught his attention, Jason fallowed his gaze and looked up to see three pelicans head their way.

The pelican had gone through some modification since the Great War but was still one of the longest serving air craft in human history. Its reliability and versatility made it a breeze to maintain and a life saver in the field. The new version's had a much larger troop carrying capacity, enough for a full platoon or thirty men, a new thick kevler and carbon fiber fabric protected the thruster gimbals from damage and the dropship had been upgrade with shields. The pelican was also able to fly in space, but it could not achieve the necessary speed or ceiling to break the atmosphere. The dust around the crash sight kicked up and a cloud formed as the dropships came in for their landing.

Two of the dropship carried a M721 "puma", the replacement for the now outdated warthog. The puma's were dropped and the anti-grav generators kicked in to keep the fast attack vehicles from smashing into the ground. A puma was essentially a warthog that used the covenant hover technology to allow it to move quicker and be much more maneuverable than its wheeled predecessor. It was also larger then the warthog but almost the exact same build and shape, it was commonly describe as being an extended warthog. The vehicle was able to support a team of five, the driver, three passengers and the gunner for the new weapon system mounted to the puma. The front of the puma was designed so that a passenger sat next to the driver and the other two sat behind them, facing towards the rear of the jeep to watch its six. The weapon used on board the Puma is a dual mount system; it has a 20mm three barreled chain gun on the left and the new MK79 automatic grenade launcher. The weapon was built into a truck bed at the back of the puma just like the warthog but unlike its predecessor high walls protected the user, at leas to around the bottom of his or her chest. It had the same shield that the gun from the warthog just extended to accommodate the dual gun system.

The pelicans landed so the Puma's wouldn't be crashed by them and deployed their landing gear. The large craft set down on the street and out of two of them stormed two full platoons of marines, their weapons all ready scanning the area. The marine's armor had been updated since the Great War, it was far more durable and it was now more adaptable to the situation. It featured a Kevlar and carbon fiber weave under suit that was skin tight on the marines body; it was around an inch thick. The under suit had a more padding in key spots on the body along with attachment points for the ceramic plates that were incased in steel. The under suit also had three special features that made it extremely valuable to the infantry solider, it could change its color pattern to different programmed camouflage's by a mechanical version of the way pigment works in the human skin but with more colors. It also was able to help regulate the wearers body temperature to a point; either extreme will still affect the user if the suit is the only layer of clothing. The third ability was its energy shielding generator, mounted on the back of the suit. The shield was weaker then the standard spartan or Sangheili system but did the job of adding one more layer.

The steel and ceramic plates for the armor came in a verity of sizes and camo patterns. The plates attached to the suit via a locking system and magnetic seal, the plates also had attachment points for the necessary pouches for the foot solider. The marines had been deployed to the city using an urban camouflage pattern and black plates. The helmet for the marines was made with a built in visor that covered the eyes and provided the marines with a HUD similar to the spartans and ODST. The helmet had built in communication systems and hearing protection that blocked sound over a certain level and the visor could polarize to the light.

"Secure a perimeter" one of the PL's said as the marines spread out around the area. The sergeant walked up to John and gave him a quick salute.

"Major"

"Yes, sergeant?" John said looking at the marine. The marine sergeant had opted out of the helmet an instead wore a patrol cover with the HUD/NETC tactical goggles. The goggles were made so that a solider didn't need to wear a helmet to get the benefits of a HUD, and the goggles built in communicator was able to link to the digital communication network that all UNSC forces used. The goggles were also able to polarize like the visors of all UNSC helmets. The goggles power supply was a power pack built into the back of the hard strap that held the device over the users face and eyes.

"We are here to take over guarding this area while you and your team move to your next objective, the second pelican is full of supplies and I bring tidings of joy, artillery just got approved by command" the sergeant said smiling before he turned and shouted at the marines "start getting this civilians onboard the pelican" John turned back to Kat, she was staring off into space from being tired.

"Come on lets get you on that dropship and get you somewhere safe" John said as he placed a hand on the women's back. John gently lead the girl over to the pelican, she stepped up the ramp and faced the spartan.

"Goodbye John, be safe out here" she said her hair blowing as the engines of the pelican started up.

"I will" John said, he absent mindly scratched the back of his head "he listen when we get back to a safe world, would you like to get dinner our something?" Kat started to laugh, her laugh was carefree and in the middle of a warzone it was the sweetest sound to reach John's ears.

"You are asking me out on a date in the middle of a war zone!" she yelled as the pelicans engines began to roar.

"Yeah, I guess I am but this my be my only chance now!" John shouted back, he had a sheepish grin on his face. The ship started to take off and John was able to hear Kat's answer over the roar of the engine.

"Yes, I will!" Kat yelled back. The pelican then picked up speed and went soaring away into the darkened night sky over Westcroft.

February 26th 3232, 2000 SMT/ Captured hostile vessel:

Hudson sat in the pilots chair of the Turians, Sarah had found a lot out and told the team what the aliens were named, space craft, not that he needed to the ship was all ready moving towards the landing zone established by ONI. The black ops operator was staring into the void of space, his mind deep in thought. His helmet sat next to him on a console, its visor reflected the entire room. Hudson was not worried about one of the Turians sneaking up on him, they were all either dead or locked in the ships brig bound hand in foot. None of the Turians had divulged any to the ONI team, despite certain incentives that the ONI team offered to them. Hudson heard the sound of loud metal footsteps echoing down the path to the cockpit of the ship, he turned and saw Arianna approaching him. She sat down in the seat across from him and stared up at the viewport over head of them.

"So, Hudson what is it that we are waiting for?" Arianna asked him but didn't look at him and continued to stare into space, literally.

"This ship is scheduled to receive orders to evac a group of wound Turians from the planet, we are just waiting till those orders come in and Sarah will get us under way" Hudson said as he stared of into the black of space as a Turian vessel flew overhead, it was angled in such a way that the two viewports of the ships lined up. The Turians in the other ship looked up and saw Hudson and Arianna. The aliens had dumbfound expressions before the ship rocketed off and started to turn to engage the ship the ONI team was on.

"Oh fuck!" Hudson said snapping out of his daze "Sarah we have been discovered, get us the Fuck out of here!"

"Roger that commencing operation: save our ass" Sarah said. The Turian ship sprang to life, its engines fired and the frigate zoomed off. The enemy ship gave chase to the fleeing vessel; there were three in hot pursuit. Sarah piloted the ship more like a fighter than a warship as she made it careen around, dodging enemy fire left and right. Luckily Hudson and Arianna had the common sense and reaction time to jam their commando helmets back onto their heads before the wild roller coaster ride began.

"I think im going to be sick!" Harris yelled over the .

February 26th 3232, 2028 SMT/ Shanxi/ Reaper crash sight:

John walked back to his assembled squad at the front of the bunker, Damon and Robert let out a wolf whistle and Carrero stood up and yelled over to the spartan major.

"Oh yeah major" the Mexican descendent said as he swung his hips around "getting a date with the locals" Angelica held her head in her hand, shaking her head in embracement and disgust with the three male spartans. The other squad members chuckled and so did a few of the marines and civilians in the area.

"All right can it, now get over to that pelican and lets load up and move out" John said point to the pelican over his shoulder with his thumb. The other spartans put their helmets back on and started to walk over to the dropship. John went to grab his helmet but didn't see and looked up to see Jason holding it out for him. John took it from his brother and placed it over his head, the neck seal hissing slightly as it connected. The two started for the pelican.

"You know there was probley a better time to ask her that question" Jason said as they walked up to the dropship "like in high school"

"Yeah, yeah keep talking" John said as he stepped into the pelicans bay and opened a ammo crate and took all his empty magazines from their places and replaced them with fresh ones full of PER's. John checked the ammo for his pistol and found that he had used one and half magazines so he dropped the empty one and grabbed some rounds and filled the half loaded one. John looked up when he heard a whistle, Julie had opened one a large gun case and john could tell that under her scout helmet she was wide eyed and smiling. Julie closed the case, picked it up along with a rather large ammo box that sat nearby and walked out of the pelican and stood at the bottom of the ramp.

"Hey, Sargent!" she yelled out. The marine sergeant who had talked to John earlier came walking up to the spartan, looking at her curiously "you guys using this?"

The marine looked at the case his expression showed that he knew exactly what lay in the gun case.

"No, LT. Its all yours" the sergeant said before walking off towards the bunker. Marie walked up to her fellow sniper team member and looked at the case. John followed to and looked over Julie's shoulder as she opened the case. Marie whistled, Johns eyes bulged as he storied at the massive rifle in the case.

The rifle was a M543 sniper rifle referred to by marines as the "spartan rifle", the massive gun was broken down in to its three main pieces, the barrel, the scope and the receiver. The weapon bore a resemblance to the old world sniper system, the M200 Cheytac, however this rifle was much bigger. The weapon is bolt action due to the fact the round it fired, a 30mm. The M543 was feed by a box magazine that contained three of its deadly payload. Its length when assembled was nearly five feet and its accuracy and range made snipers have wet dreams. The rifle was designed to be the ultimate in sniper rifle development, it could hit a target 3,000 meters away with only a inch drift if shot solid thanks to the scope used that was able to zoom that far and take and transmit all the data about the range conditions to the spotter. Its original purpose was to provide an anti-material rifle that could be used to take out wraith tanks, still the main tank used by the covenant, from safe ranges. It was however scrapped for basic sniper teams to use due to the fact there was a good chance the recoil would destroy a regular human's shoulder but not a spartans. The weapon was then given to spartan sniper teams when available, mostly for sniper over watch, assassinations and counter sniping missions.

Julie picked up the receiver and placed it on her back moving the sniper rifle she carried off to one side so both would fit on her back. She handed the barrel to Marie who loaded the barrel of the weapon onto her back, she also took and grabbed three of the magazines and placed them on her leg and moved her pistol to her belt. When the others came out Julie and Marie had found a way to carry twenty rounds each for the massive weapon.

"Wow, I get more swarmer grenades and these two get a fucking cannon" Robert said. John rolled his eyes and motioned the squad to follow him. He lead them to the two pumas that sat addle by, a marine was on each of the guns scanning for hostiles.

"We need these vehicles marine" John said to the man on the gun.

"Yes sir, go give 'em hell!" the marine said excitedly as he hopped down from the turret and went to join his fellows, the man on the other puma did so as well.

"All right, Alpha plus Julie in the first puma, bravo and Marie the second" John ordered the spartans. The squad all moved to the vehicles that they were assigned to, Jason hopped into the front passenger seat of his and Jack took the controls of the hover jeep. Robert grabbed the gun while Damon and Carrero took the passenger seats in the back. John grabbed the hand hold on the puma and pulled himself into the driver seat while Yazid took the gun and everyone else in alpha fire team loaded into the passenger seats of the fast attach craft. John fired the engine of his puma and the beast roared with life.

"Stick close watch for hostiles, we got a ways to go" John said over the squad NET and then hit the gas pedal. The puma shoot foreword quickly reaching a speed of sixty miles an hour. John drove the puma around a corner, the hover jeep pitched to one side a bit as it took the turn at high speed. The burned out cars presented no problem as the puma moved around them with cat like grace.

"Hey, check this out" Damon said his voice audible over the roar of the pumas engines through their helmets comm. unit. Damon took a small stick like device from his hard case and plugged it in to the radio and turned the puma's radios' volume up as the squad now rolled along at nearly eighty miles and hour listening to a classic from way back in the day, AC/DC's back in black. John was angered at first, _he is a spartan, he should not be playing music in a combat zone_ john thought but then he remembered one truth about Damon,_ well he has always been a bit of a goof off and this is a good song._ John decided to let it go and enjoyed the music. The squad's transports moved through the city fairly unopposed, there were no tango's in sight and it worried the squads leader.

"Hey Jason, why are we not receiving and contact" John said to his brother.

"This area was never invaded, its an abandon slum" Jason said. John scoffed and then turned his own pumas radio on and listened to the battle report.

"The third marines and ODST have pushed the tangos back and they are all now slowly getting corralled and trapped in the center of Westcroft. The fleet has forced the tango ships into a retreat and they are now holding position on the far side of the planet. We have confirmed that they are sending out dropships to pick up their troops from Shanxi. We have also received word that the Union has also been attack but not by the mysterious new comers but the covenant at one of their out skirt colonies" the reporter said but before he spoke again john turned it off.

"Hey squad, think there is any way that the tango's are working with the covenant" John said to his squad as they rounded another street corner and up onto a highway and head for the open land beyond it were their objective at grid 34-57. The grid point was located a few miles out of the city, hopefully to avoid any tango attempts to retake the supposed captured ship that would be landing there.

"No way, that would never happen the prophets are all a bunch of haters that want everyone but them and their pet monkeys dead" Carrero said.

"What can you say, haters gonna hate" Angelica said as she shrugged in the seat next to John.

February 26th 3232, 2028/ Shanxi/ UNSC base:

Trexo sat in the back of a large treaded vehicle in a cell built into the large transport, his hands were bound and he couldn't believe they let him live. He was at a command post in the southern side of the city when at least ten extremely large fully armored solders busted into the post and started to kill everyone inside of it. The few Turians who were wounded screamed in pain. Trexo had dived behind a large console, the bright glowing rounds the enemy used. The first thought he had was that they had some how created directed energy weapons but the rounds were stopped by his kinetic barriers but the glowing part collided with his armor and burn it. _They are using plasma encased rounds! Even with our shielding we won't stop all the damage that would be done by the shot!_ The Turian watched one of his comrades got hit and collapsed to the ground, Trexo grabbed his arm and tired to pull the wounded man behind cover but Trexo had exposed his face for to long and a round smashed into his kinetic barriers and the plasma splashed over his left eye, burning it. The humans took any wound Turians and put them in a room and then they moved them to the prisoner transport.

Which where Trexo now sat, the left side of his face was nearly splitting his head open. Trexo was a solider through and through, he was all ready thinking of how to escape from the enemy. Trexo reached up to his face and felt the natural scalpels plates around the massive burn wound on his face, one of the plates was creaked and piece of it stuck out from his face. The Turian tapped it with one of his three fingers, and nearly screamed in pain as he touched it. The Turian looked at the cord around his hands, it was basically plastic. _They have us bound with zip ties? _The Turian nearly laughed_ they can combine directed energy weapons and projectile weapons but they still use zip ties for handcuffs_. Trexo then had an idea; he raised his hands up to the burn on his face and pressed the plastic to the plate that was broken on the jagged edge. Trexo then began to move his hands back in forth sawing through the zip tie, the plate moved a bit and it felt like something was being torn from his face. The plastic hand cuff finally came apart and Trexo nearly fainted from the pain, he could feel his blood running down his face in a small trickle. _Never again!_ Trexo thought breathing hard from the pain _I need a weapon_. Trexo then groaned in pain as he realized were one potently lay, _god damn it this is going to hurt so bad_. The Turian solider reached up and grabbed the plate, he grunted then whipped his arm holding the plate, the sound of tearing skin reached the turian's ears. He bit his tongue to keep him from screaming out in pain and alerting the guards that something was wrong. The plate in his hand was covered in his blackish colored blood and the jagged edge was burnt. Trexo's face was on fire but he kept his composure as best he could. He walked over to the cell, he entrance was not bars or glass like the cells used in prisons in the council but some sort of shield that didn't let him out but it let people in. Trexo thought to himself and he then started to scream in pain, he heard the guard at the front of large transport groan as he stood and start walking. Luckily for Trexo he looked like hell and blood covered his arms and face making him look like he could actually be dying. The human pulled a device out from one of the pouches on his armor and hit a button deactivating the shield and then hit it again activating the shield to lock them in again. Trexo was now lying on the ground he kept his hands close together by his face, the human bent down and shoved the Turian to see if he was alive still. Trexo became a blur as he shoved his broken face plate into the human's neck, the man's red blood run down his hands. Trexo pulled the broken plate out of his enemy's neck and slid it between his armor and belt that he wore that held his extra thermal clips. Trexo looked at the man and took the pistol from him. Trexo had basic training with projectile weapons, they were not used for war anymore but a few enthusiasts, including his father loved to target shoot with them. The Turian pulled the slid back and heard a positive click as the first round chambers. Trexo took all the ammo and put it on the magnetic strips that held his weapons on him. The Turian took the shield door control device and hit one of the buttons on it and deactivated the shield and ran out of the cage and out the back ramp of the large transport. He saw a few human solders standing nearby and a bombed out building to his left. Trexo silently ran to the structure and hide, once he was sure none of the humans saw him he slipped from cover and started towards the center of the city where he knew the rest of the Turian force would be.

February 26th 3232, 2045 SMT / Shanxi/ Grid 34-57:

John turned the left side of his puma and the craft skidded it to a halt as he looked up when he heard the roar of engines and explosions. John looked up to see a tango ship being chased by seven others. The pursued craft was dodging the others fire but it was already damaged.

"Oh, shit this is not good" Jason said as Jack stopped the puma. Jason was right as another frigate landed a hit on the captured vessel. The ship jolted as the round collided with one of its wings, the craft was smoking and parts of it were burning up. John watched as the frigate smashed into the ground, it dug into the dirt and pushed up a massive hill as it skidded along the ground. The craft came to a screeching halt in near the highway that Sierra squad was currently sitting on, John wasted no time in giving orders.

"Move!" John barked through the comm. net and the pumas raced of again towards the downed ship. They two hover jeeps reached nearly ninety miles an hour as they went flying over the road towards the smoking wreak. John heard the other craft overhead, and looked up to see the tango frigates circling back towards the down craft. By some stroke of luck they didn't see the two pumas that were speeding along the road towards the same craft. John stopped his vehicle and Jack did as well, they were near an off ramp and the highway had a perfect vantage point of the downed enemy vessel.

"Julie, Marie out her gives us sniper over watch" John said to the two snipers.

"Aye, aye major" Julie said jumping from the pumas passenger seat. Marie did the same and the two snipers went to the edge of the highway. John and his team went zooming of down the off ramp. Julie and Marie kept their heads low as they silently as possible went over to the ledge of the highway. Julie looked over and saw the seven ship landing near the downed craft and started to deploy troops. She took the receiver for the spartan rifle form her back and held her hand out to Marie who put the barrel of the weapon in her hand. Julie slid the long metal tube into its place and hit the locking bolts for the barrel and then slid the locking ring into place and screwed it down. The sniper deployed the bipod of the rifle and set the massive weapon down on the foot thick ledge and extended the stock. The stock locked positively in place so Julie opened the bolt and slid a full magazine home. Marie set up her regular sniper rifle next to Julie and nodded to her partner. Julie brought her eyes down to the scope and turned the night vision on so she could see down range.

The pumas zoomed into the massive trench made by the crashed vessel and stopped. Julie started to scan for hostiles and saw them running towards the trench; there was at least twenty or so from each ship. The frigates however couldn't stay because a huge explosion engulfed one told Julie that the UNSC ships over head had the tango ships locked and were beginning to take them out. She took aim at one tango, the rangefinder read 2600m.

"Target in sight, laser marking" Julie said to Marie.

"I see him, lead two point one, fire" Marie said to the sniper. Julie breathed out and stopped her breathing for just a second; she could hear her heartbeat and waited for the small pause in between the beats. When the pause came she squeezed the trigger and the massive rifle thundered as the 30mm high explosive round soared down range and smashed in the tango, dead center in his chest and detonated. The round exploded like a small grenade and took out two of the tangos next to the one she hit. Julie worked the bolt and chambered the next round.

"Target, 2500mm lead 1.7" Marie said. Julie repeated the process and fired the weapon again.

February 26th 3232, 2102 SMT/ Shanxi/ Downed captured Turian vessel:

Hudson set up for the pilot's seat of the ship; he felt blood on his forehead. He groaned as he sat up, he opened his eyes and say the visor of his operator helmet cracked to the point the HUD was flickering and Hudson could barley see out of it. He took of his helmet and yelled out to his team on the ship.

"Report!" Arianna pushed a hunk of debris of her and reached over to help Shepherd up.

"Arianna, im good!" the female spartan yelled back. Her operator helmet had stayed in tact through the crash same with Shepherd.

"Shep, Im fine" Hudson stood up and limped a bit down the path to the bridge were the other two spartans were standing. Hudson walked over to the console that he had placed the chip that held Sarah in it.

"I'm fine" the AI said over the speakers.

"Were is Harris?" Hudson asked looking around the bridge. He looked around and saw a support for the ship hanging from the ceiling, at the bottom of it was a black figure. Hudson walked over and looked down, Harris lay there with the support beam skewered through the soft part of his suit under his arm at an angle were the ONI spartan knew it had priced the mans heart. Hudson sighed and removed Harris's helmet and slid his eyes closed.

"Sarah, you got all the data we need?" Hudson asked as he looked at his dead comrade his voice the same as always, cold like ice.

"Yeah I got it you Ice cube" Sarah said "now get me out of here I don't want to be blown up"

"Where is the nearest exit?" Shepherd asked the AI as he took his SMG in hand and readied to move out.

"The air lock on the port side is not blocked lets give that ago" Sarah said. Shepherd and Arianna started that way but Hudson went over to the console and pulled Sarah from the slot and slid the chip into one in the back of his neck armor. Strange water like feeling filled his mind as he felt the AI enter through his neural implants.

"Wow, it is rather empty in here" Sarah said jokingly. Hudson just grunted and pulled a pair of tactical goggles that the marines wore from a pouch and slid them over his face. The HUD fired up and linked with his armor and weapons. The three spartans stood at the airlock door, they could hear gunfire on the other side of it, and Hudson recognized some of the noise as MA37s and BR57s.

"Open it" Hudson said and the massive door opened to the outside world. The once muffled noise of gunshots was now fully audible. The spartan team leader pulled himself out of the airlock door, the ship had crashed at an angle, and rolled to the side. Hudson fell of the side of the ship and landed on the ground, he got to his feet and quickly moved behind a chuck of the ship and crouched down behind it. Arianna and Shepherd followed him out of the craft and took cover. Hudson looked over the edge and says eight spartans engaging the Turians, the aliens were pushing foreword but the spartans stopped them from getting to close. Three of them were taking cover behind a puma while one manned the gun which was blazing as it tore the ground, debris, and Turians apart like paper. Two more of the spartans were behind what Hudson recognized as a chunk of the wing while one moved back. The last spartan was using the gun on the other puma that the squad had brought. The spartan ran back and slid behind the same piece of the wing Hudson was behind.

"Sir, Major Wells!" the spartan with steel and gold armor said "me and my squad are here to get you out!"

"Roger that, I need to connect to your squads NET so we don't need to yell at each other!" Hudson said to the spartan before he quickly stood up and fired a burst of his SMG at the advancing Turians.

"I agree with you sir, log into Squad NET 34E7S" Major Wells shouted to Hudson. The ONI agent quickly linked his comm. NET to the network given by the major.

"Lets move up" Hudson said and broke cover, Wells and Hudson's team followed him back up to the established firing line. Hudson went over to Shepherd and Arianna keeping his head low as he moved along the piece of the hull that they were hiding behind.

"Link to NET 34E7S!" Hudson yelled to them. The two spartans nodded and in a few seconds they were in the network. John looked up at the squad status bar in his HUD and saw that it now read thirteen. Hudson fired his SMG at a Turian who broke cover; the rounds collided with the Turians shields but after a few hits they punched through and the alien dropped. Hudson heard what sounded like a ground vehicle engine and glanced at the pumas thinking one of them had started. Hudson then realized when he saw no one in the driver seat that it was not the pumas. The Turians had brought in what Sarah had called a Mako APC. The APC opened fire on the spartans its fast firing machine gun forcing the spartans into cover. The boom of its main cannon echoed and the round smashed into one of the pumas sending it and the spartan on it flying.

"Jason!" John yelled as he watched his brother get thrown from the exploding vehicle. Jason flew and crashed into a piece of debris knocking it down but the spartan was far from down. He looked up in time to see the tank take aim again, his life flashed before his eyes but the APC near fired. Instead a loud boom broke the air as Julie fired the 30mm rifle into the mako's small view port and the round exploded on the inside of it. Jason thanked god and dived behind cover and pulled is pistol out, his rifle went flying and there was no way he could get to it without being killed by sheer number of rounds that were flying around. The eleven spartans were some how managing to hold off the Turians but the aliens wouldn't stop coming, Hudson looked up as a high pitched engine whine drew his attention and a Turian dropship zoomed over head. The angular craft strafed the trench the spartans had taken cover in, the crafts shoots fortunately didn't hit the spartans they did however force all of them into cover or risk being taken out by the things large rounds. The dropship started to unload more troops, the twenty five or so dead Turians didn't mean much as more dropship came in and tried to unload, some were successful but one wasn't. The thunderous roar of the spartan rifle and the sniper rifle being wielded by Marie reached the ears of the spartans every so often; they knew each shoot meant at least one dead tango. The one unfortunate dropship meet its fate when the massive round from the spartan rifle hit its shields, the shields flared but Robert who was manning his gun turned it on the gunship; it was a near miracle he hadn't been killed yet. The Turians hadn't managed to find away to stop him, the armor around the puma made it like a bunker and the grenade launcher made it a tank.

The man on the machine gun trained his fire on the dropship as soon as he saw the shields flare up, the 20mm rounds and grenades pounded on the shields till the usual braking pattern of the Turians shields happened around the craft. The roar of the spartan rifle sounded and the dropship banged to one ship and crushed to the ground as the 30mm high explosive round smashed into the cockpit and exploded. It was a mute victory as the Turians dropped more men into the fray.

"We can't hold!" John said he quickly switched his NET to command "This is sierra 1 at grid 34-57! We have a priority one mission from ONI and are losing the objective requesting immediate reinforcements!"

"Roger that Sierra 1, we are dispatching pelicans to you now" the operator said John heard some back ground noise.

"Give me that"

"But sir, I need to radio the tower"

"I said give me your headset marine!" the background voices stopped and the sound of someone taking a headset of and putting it one muffled its way through the speakers.

"Sierra 1, its Ack-Ack talk to me John" the colonel said through the headset.

"We got more tangos inbound and at our position then rounds!" John said pressing himself against the piece of debris that he was crouching behind he looked over the edge to see a Turian dropship headed at him guns blazing "We are currently defending a captured tango frigate and the ONI team has an AI with valuable Intel!"

"Ok, hold tight spartan helps under way" Ack-Ack said "we are coming to get you"

"Yes, sir Tango won't take this position" John said. He switched back to the squad NET and shouted out to his brother.

"Jason, get on S-NET and get use some god damn artillery fire" John shouted. Hudson walked ran over to the spartan squad leader, he fired is SMG blindly over the piece of debris as he ran, he wouldn't fire on any friendlies since they were at the front of the line.

"What's the situation Major?" Hudson shouted. John looked at him really quick, the bald mans head was bleeding and he was covered in grime and dirt. John stood up and fired a burst at a Turian who was getting to adventuress, the alien took a few rounds but the next cover position was too far and the aliens shields broke and he fell with to PERs in his chest.

"Tango has got his shit together, they keep landing men!" John looked over to his brother "Where is my fuckin artillery support!" Jason held up one finger, indicting he was working on it "We got reinforcement on the way"

Jason sat against the chunk of the Turian ships wing he had dived behind after being thrown from the puma. He had his NET linked to the S-NET; he was waiting till he was transferred over to an artillery fire control operator.

"This is Cobra battery four, go ahead sierra 2" the women other side of the link said.

"About time, we got tangos at our position, around a whole company and that was five minutes ago!" Jason said.

"Roger that sierra 2, waiting for coordinates" the women said. Jason looked up and activated the artillery support grid software and his HUD displayed a gird over the ground. The spartan kept his head over the edge just enough for him to see the area; he fired his pistol at a Turian the tried to move up from a piece of debris to another wing piece. The rounds bounced off the shields for the first two but the Turian dived into a small trench before Jason could finish him off.

"Grid 34-57!" Jason said to the artillery fire control operator "sub grid 56-70, square 74, danger close!"

"Roger, steel rain on its way" the women said "keep your heads down"

Jason quickly switched back to squad NET, he looked up and saw another Turian dropship staff the trench but this time it hit the puma which exploded and Robert went soaring.

"Shit, Rob!" Jason shouted. The spartan was crawling, blood oozed from his leg, towards the line. Jason knew some one was going to get fucked up in this fight but Robert looked bad.

"Cover me!" Jason said as he ran foreword, Hudson and Arianna ran up with him firing at any Turians that popped up, the other squad members kept fire down range, the crack of the sniper rifle and boom of the Julies own artillery piece sounded out. Everyone was giving cover fire as the three spartans charged up the trench to the downed spartan. Jason reached him first. He hit a small button on the top of the solid metal on his back and a rescue handle popped out, Jason gripped it and started pumping his legs with all he head and dragged the wound man back towards Sierra's firing line. The other squad members continued to crank out rounds at the enemy. As Jason started dragging Robert the artillery shells finally hit home, only one minute after Jason had called them in. the massive 155mm rounds began to hit the ground and exploded. The Turians that were hit by the shells and the explosion were blown apart; the ground was becoming stained by their black blood. Jason had finally managed to drag the wounded spartan back behind cover; the man had been firing his pistol at the enemy as he was pulled to safety.

"Angelica, get your ass over here!" Jason yelled to the medic. The medic went to the edge of the piece of cover she was behind and nodded to the others.

"Covering fire!" John yelled to the spartans. The all of them stood up and let their weapons roar, pinning the enemy in place. Angelica sprinted as only some one could who was under heavy fire the few meters between her and Jason. She slid behind cover and turned on her belly she quickly got up on her knees and started to look over Robert.

"How bad is it Angel?" Robert said couching a bit. Jason took of his helmet so any blood he coughed up wouldn't accumulate in his helmet. Angelica looked over the wound, a large chuck of metal was stuck in his leg, on the inside were some of the thinner armor was on the leg plating. The chunk was in deep and had been stopped by the large plate on the top of his leg.

"You got a nasty leg wound, I have seen worse Robby" Angelica said. She took a hold on the chuck of metal and looked up at Jason who was firing with his pistol at the enemy.

"Jason!" the spartan ducked down and looked back at the medic "I haft to take this thing out! When I do I want you to put pressure on the wound!"

Jason nodded; he grabbed the pressure pad from its pouch and sat ready to put it on the wound. The pressure pad was an inch thick foam pad that could be stuck into a pouch that was fairly small and then when need it would be able to reform out to its usual square foot size. It was made for spartans because the metal gloves wouldn't seal well against the skin of a fellow spartan or the metal plates on his armor.

Angelica pulled the piece of metal out of Roberts's leg who screamed in pain his blue eyes wide with pain. Jason quickly put the pad on his leg and applied pressure but only enough to help staunch the bleeding. Angelica grabbed the bio-foam canister from her medic kit and nodded to Jason who took the pad away, the spartan instantly went back to firing. Angelic injected the bio-foam into the wound, the medical miracle making sure he didn't bleed out through his leg. Angelic looked up and heard the roar of the pelicans engines overhead, the dropships strafed the enemy with their nose cannons before the four dropships touched down. The craft landed and the marines on board stormed off and at the enemy. The Turians didn't know what was going on, the ninety marines and the full platoon of spartans charged at the enemy line guns blazing.

"Charge!" John yelled to the squad.

"Stay here" Angelica said to the wound man before she unslung her rifle and fallowed the others up the trench at the enemy lines. The twelve spartans ran up the long trench towards the crest of it, their armor increasing their speed. The Turians tried to stand and whip the spartans out with sheer volume of fire but the fire from the marines meant that the Turians had no cover anyway. The spartans ran foreword what was known as "spartan time" time kicked in.

John was running up the trench, he snapped from one target to the next, putting each one down the going to the next. The Major reached the top of the trench and looked down the hill. The Turians had more men at the bottom but they were all being engaged by the marines and spartans who, John continued his charge the others followed. The battle didn't last much longer after that, the remaining Turian troops all dropped their rifles and held their hands up.

"On your knees all of you!" A voice yelled out that John instantly recognized as Ack-Ack. The Turians all slowly got to their knees.

"Marines secure them" Ack-Ack said, two platoons of marines went to cuff the thirty three or so who had surrendered. Another marine squad stood watch for any Turian who tried to pull a fast one. John lowered his rifle and walked out of the way, his squad followed suit and Sierra squad and ONI team 7 walked over to the grass near the edge of the trench. John sat down, he groaned in pain; now that the adrenaline had cut out he realized how sore he was. The major took of his commando helmet and looked out across the trench that was nearly his and his team grave. Bodies of Turians littered the entire thing.

"They really wanted that ship back" Jason said as he followed his brother's example and sat down. Jason had all ready taken of his helmet and clipped it to his belt. John laughed at the statement, he smiled.

"Yeah, they sure did" John said as he watched Angelica and a few marines run back down the trench to where Robert was limping up. Angelica took and put Robert's arm around her shoulder, the few marines that came tried to support the seven foot seven hundred fifty pound warrior from the other side but gave up and walked with the two back up the trench. Robert hopped along the bio-foam holding back any bleeding and made it so he could move. John laughed at the marines trying to help Robert up the trench.

"You are crazy happy right now" Jason said to his brother. John fell back and lay on the ground, the grass tickled his ears.

"We completed our objectives, from what I could tell we have managed to retake Shanxi and no one was killed" John said as he put his hands behind his head "I think that's something to be happy about, I know dad is up there some where smiling with pride right now"

Jason chuckled once and looked back over the field; a breeze ruffled his hair just like his father did. Jason closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling.

"Its funny, we are what forty now? And I can still remember mom saying we would never grow up" Jason said smiling.

"Yeah, we never did mature into the gentlemen she wanted us to be. Besides forty is young now days, a century or to back it wasn't" John said. The sound of foot steps drew the brothers from their nostalgic gaze; Jason stood and held his hand out for John. John reached up and grabbed his brothers fore arm and Jason helped him to his feet.

"Back to reality huh?" John said looking at Jason. Hudson walked over to John and held out his hand. The ONI agent had taken off his TAC goggles and whipped the blood from his face.

"Thank you, Major without you me and my team would probley be dead inside that Turian ship, that's what the tangos call themselves" Hudson said. John took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"It's our job" John said "look us up when we get leave, god knows we will need to head to some place and get the 9th up to one-hundred percent"

"You guys may get leave but we wont" Hudson said dropping John's hand "take care of yourself and good luck, something tells me this is far from over"

"Take care spook" Jason said as Hudson walked away. The ONI spartan turned and pulled a pair of mirrored sunglasses from the hard case on is armors leg. He put them on over his eyes.

"The names Hudson"

Jason and John looked up at the moon; the rest of their squad walked over, except for Robert and Angelica, and sat down around them in random spots that some how became a circle.

"We sure got them good, huh boss" Carrero said as he took his mark V bravo helmet off and tossed it a little to the side.

"We sure did, Carrero we sure did" John said. The other squad members took off their helmets also, Jack used his as a pillow and pulled his NWU eight points cover out from a pouch and put it over his face. The others either sat or stared into space, Damon and Yazid lay down in the grass hands behind their heads.

"Well fuck this" Jason said and plopped right back down on the ground. John scoffed and sat down next to his brother, John leaned back on his hands. The noise of a falcon landing nearby didn't make any of them look, a few of them were asleep by now. The dust and wind made those awake shut their eyes, the aircraft took of and Julie and Marie walked over to the lazing around spartans. Marie stood with one hand on her hip; Julie had the spartan rifle resting on her shoulder the barrel stuck up behind her a good few feet.

"Well, what have we got here? Sierra squad laying down on the job" Marie said chuckling. Jack raised one arm and flipped her off, the entire group burst into laughter but the pilot went back to snoring.

"Major Wells, sir mind if we rejoin Sierra?" Julie asked in an overly polite voice.

"Yeah, go ahead we got room for a few more, it's a fucking party here" John said to the sniper. Julie set the rifle down and fell down on the ground; Marie sat down and lay down.

"Good that fucking thing is heavy" Julie said. The group chuckled a bit.

"I bet it is" a voice said. The squad looked and saw Ack-Ack standing in his sage armor, JFO helmet in hand. They went to get up but the colonel held his hand out gesturing to them to stop.

"Take a load off you deserve it" Ack-Ack said his gray hair moved a bit from the slight night breeze that was blowing "good work today sierra. Just thought I would let you know that we managed to retake the capitol in a day. Most of the other cities were recaptured by 1400"

"That's good news" Jason said sitting up "how bad was our loses?"

"I don't know about the marines or ODST yet but we lost three for G, and twenty from C they got ambushed by at least four of those tank things"

"Damn" John said.

"Yeah, anyway when we go to refit you guys have leave every night" Ack-Ack said. The man turned and walked away from the squad, the spartans smiled at the thought of a few weeks of leave on some nice colony when they got off Shanxi.

"Son of a bitch!" Damon yelled snapping up form his resting position "My AC/DC was still in that puma!"

**Well, that concludes chapter 4. I need a few elite OCs for the rest of the story so if you think of any send them to me. Also there are a lot of references in my story if you think you found all them tell me, I am kind of curious as to who is catching them. The next chapter or two won't have much action but a good deal of some plot, and subplot advancement. Till next time**


	5. Homecoming

**So, this chapter and the next one won't have much in the way of action but some more back story on the Wells brothers. Also we will get to see some more of the conspiracy at the citadel develop along with Trexo's increasing role in the story. **

**This is now up to 34 reviews and 25 fav's and 30 alerts. My classes just started again along with the fact it is headed towards the end of wrestling season my mean I am hard pressed to find time but I will update as much as possible. **

March 7th 3232/ Shanxi: The Turians are defeated and the last pockets of resistance are either destroyed or captured. The 9th MEF is withdrawn from Shanxi along with those refugees who decided to leave the planet and depart for Eden Prime, the nearest colony that has dry-docks and a large military base on it. The UNSC high command sends the 3rd MEF to take over patrolling the system and ONI recalls the prowler over the colony with what data and discoveries that they have been able to make.

March 10th 3232 1912 SMT/ UNSC refuge camp

John wore his Dress blues, the numerous ribbons and medals were displayed proudly on his chest, and the spartan insignia gleamed from his chest as he walked into the barracks that was being used as a place for the refuges form Shanxi to stay. John say Kat walk down the hall towards him, she wore a simple dress and had her hair down. She walked up to John who offered her his arm and she took it. The two started to walk back out of the building to where a cab sat waiting for them.

"Where did you get that Dress?" John asked her. When they had come back she had little to nothing like most of the refuges that came from Shanxi.

"I went shopping yesterday, I guess it's lucky that I stuck with the same bank and didn't switch to one on Shanxi" Kat said "And when did you become such a gentlemen, John Wells? I still remember in high school you could be quite the rude person at times"

John chuckled and opened the door for Kat who he helped into the cab, she flashed him a smile. John went around to the other side and got into the car; he leaned foreword and whispered to the driver where to go.

"So?" Kat asked her eyebrow rose. John leaned into the seat and took the large cover from his head.

"When we went to spartan training, me and Jason decided to go officer" John said "they taught us more about leading in combat and all that but they taught us how to be gentlemen. It is very unbecoming for an UNSC officer to be anything but gentlemen in public"

Kat laughed after this statement, her laugh was almost electrifying for the spartan to hear. He may have been forty but that was fairly young for someone in today's society. He smiled as she laughed, when she stopped she took whipped some water from her eyes.

"A gentlemen huh, I will always remember the crazy country boy that drove around in a pick-up truck, hay in his hair from working on the farm and a crazy smile on his face"

It was Johns turn to laugh now as he thought back to those days, he smiled.

"Yeah, I was quite the crazy on back then wasn't I?" John asked her. She smiled and her happiness seemed to radiate through out the cab.

"Crazy, you and your brother were hell on wheels" She said "how many times did sheriff Monroe pull you guys for going over one hundred? And let's not forget about that senior prank you guys pulled"

"What the pigs? Come on it my have not been an original idea but we were the first ones in history to actually do it" John said. The two smiled, both of them thought back to high school. They never got beyond being just friends even though both of them wanted to be more, the other party just never figured it out.

"So where are you taking me Major Wells?" Kat said. John looked over to the blonde on the other side of the cab.

"It's a surprise" John said. The two talked more about old times and the crazy stuff they got involved with. The cab stopped in front of a restaurant that was more in the countryside. It was a large building that had Italian influences all over it and its architecture. The land around it was covered with fence and grape vines. Kat turned and faced with an "oh my god" look on her face. John got out of the cab and went around opening for the date. Kat stepped gracefully out from the car and took Johns arm, he then lead her up to the door at the front of the building. The doors at the front slid open to let the couple in, the two walked up to host who was looking over stuff at the podium he was standing at. He heard the two approach him so he brought his head up to see them walking his way, he smiled at the couple as they stopped at the stand.

"Good evening, how may I assist you?" the host said.

"Good evening, I have reservations for two. They will be under Major Wells" John said to host who checked the list.

"Ah, yes" the host said. One of the waitress standing nearby walked up with two menus in her hand, she like all the other employs was wearing black pants and a white shirt with a black tie.

"If you would please follow me sir and madam" the waitress said. The couple followed her through the restaurant to the patio on the back, and to their table which was located next a marble fountain. The patio had a view out across the entire vineyard was behind the restaurant. There was a symphony that played, the music drifted over the scene making the night seem more inviting. John pulled the chair out for Kat who sat down in it thanking him silently. John took his own seat and the waitress hand them the menus, and pulled her notepad out and hit the touch screen activating the device.

"So, how about a drink to start the evening off?" the waitress said. John looked through the list and decided that he had the money to spend and looked at the waitress.

"Could you bring us a bottle of **Brunello di Montalcino, please" John asked her.**

**"Good choice, sir I shall bring it right out" the waitress said. Kat just looked at him like he was crazy but she still had her bright smile on her face. **

**"I would have been happy with olive garden or even just an Applebee's when you said I would need to dress nice I had no clue that this is what you meant" Kat said she continued in a very matter of a fact tone "this is very unbecoming of a country boy grown up working on a farm" **

**"Yes, it is but im not that boy any more" John said "I'm a UNSC Spartan officer now" he said proudly but he continued with a southern drawl "so don't yall ever go an forget it" **

**Kat laughed out loud at his joke, she ****smiled at him. It made John in that moment forget all about war, combat, and every thing that came with it.**

**2157 CE,1903 SMT/ Citadel/ Turian hierarchy military hospital(**March 10th 3232 0900 SMT)** : **

**Trexo lay on his medical gurney in the military hospital on the citadel, his face where he had torn the scale plate from his face during his escape back to the Turian lines. Trexo was then extracted along with the other wounded Turians, he had lost s good deal of blood and managed to stay awake long enough to sneak back to friendly forest. He was watching the news on the screen in his room, it was story about a bunch of crime lords being systematically murdered. The news reporter had said the main suspect was a drell but at the moment Trexo was hard pressed to care, he was so angry with the hierarchy and what had happened at Shanxi. ****_We should have been better prepared. We had no tanks and no fire support, hell they didn't even send in any Cabels even after we asked for them to be used!_**** The Turian officer was angry but he tried not to let the expression come to his face, it would hurt too much. The door to his room opened and Trexo turned to see one of the most respected Turian generals walk into his room, Nithlo Artuerius.**

**"General Nithlo!" Trexo said his face wide, the side mandibles on his face opened in shock but only his right one could open. The bandages kept the other one down, it had just been reattached to his face, along with a fake plate where the one he used as a knife had came from. The bandages also covered most of his face and his left eye. Nithlo walked over and placed his hand on the wounded warrior and stopped him from trying to get up.**

**"Trexo Jaxvenkran, it is a pleasure to meet you" Nithlo said as he pulled a medal from a pocket on his uniform. The medal was placed onto the stand by Trexo's bed, the gold colored award glinted in the light.**

**"You earned this, I heard about you defending that command post on Shanxi. You were able to hold the enemy off for nearly six hours, even against some of their best troops" Nithlo said smiling "all the Turians who were there that made it back said you were a leader that day. That's the kind of stuff I need at high command, especially when those humans come to invade the rest of the system and take more of our territory"**

**"Are you sure they are coming back to attack us again?" Trexo asked the general. **

**"Yes, we are all signs point to it so we are bolstering our defenses, in fact I am to leave soon to lead the defense operations. I need a new XO however, my last one just took retirement" Nithlo took a gold leaf from his pocket and pinned it to the medal "Congratulations on your promotion, colonel" Trexo stared at the insigne, he had just been promoted up two ranks.**

**"I expect you to be on my command vessel tomorrow. I am sorry about your eye but at least I guess the men will know their XO is not killed so easily" Nithlo said before he walked out of the room leaving one every stunned Turian solider. **

**March 10****th**** 3232 2146 SMT/ UNSC refuge camp:**

**Kat**** walked into the door of the barracks, John was holding her hand and laughing at one of the many stories that they had been swapping all night long. The girl lead the slightly drunken spartan officer to the door of her room, she faced him. The boy she had been infatuated with was now standing in front of her as the man she was falling in love with. **

**"I had a good time tonight, John" Kat said she was smiling and it made Johns heart beat faster "the best I have had for a very long time"**

**"We should go out again some time" John said smiling at the girl that he knew as a teenage boy and she had gone and turned into a beautiful lady. She nodded and wrapped her arms around the spartan, she closed her eyes and felt safe in the man's arms. **

**"We should" she said. The two stayed like that for a few minutes until Kat felt Johns arms ****loosen their hold on her, she looked up at him and into his brown eyes. **

**"I should get go..." John**** began but was cut off when Kat brought her lips to his. The spartan was shocked but kissed her back, for once time since his father died he felt at peace. **

March 11th 3232/ Classified location/ ONI prowler _Black Dog_:

Hudson walked down one of the many passages on the _Black Dog_, he looked out of one of the view ports and saw the Union ship not far off. The Union had been attacked by the Brutes during the same time that the Turians attacked Shanxi. ONI had its suspicions about the Turians and covenant working together and the ship captured by Hudson reviled that the suspicion my have more weight to it then previously beloved. The Union was contacted by ONI and told about the possibility that there may be something more to these attacks then simple raids or policing actions. The Union agreed and sent a frigate to meet up with the _Black Dog_ so that the two may talk in more detail about what is going on. Hudson was wearing his signature glasses, along with black BDUs and a pistol belt that carried his sidearm. Being ONI made one suspicious of every thing and every one, having a spartans training didn't help the borderline paranoia some black ops agents developed. Hudson gazed at the ship for a few minutes, he admired the design of the craft. The ONI agent scoffed and turned back down the hall to the briefing room where he was supposed to arrive, he was told that his team was all ready there and that the group was just waiting for him. Hudson walked to the door and pressed his hand to the door scanner and stepped inside. He saw the captain of the ship talking with Elite in black armor that had golden accents, he was wearing the field marshal set up. The horns on the helmet made the Sangheili look more like a samurai turned into a deadly alien warrior. The captain Veronica Chakwas was in her mid seventies, starting to reach the retirement age for most officers, she had graying hair and dark green eyes. The two turned when the door opened and Hudson walked in.

"Ah, Hudson glad you could come" Veronica said motioning for him to come over. Hudson nodded and walked towards the colonel. He walked past a few more Sangheili and spartans that had forgone wearing their armor to the meeting. There was one that sat at one of the tables with bright red eyes that unnerved the agent but only just, he had seen things that no man should ever see. Hudson reached the captain with a few quick strides he looked up at the Elite who nodded in the usual unspoken greeting.

"Yes ma'am?" Hudson asked her.

"Hudson I would like you to meet Vanthell Jayanme" Veronica said facing the Sangheili. Vanthell was a specimen of his species, nearly eight foot tall and looked like he could tear a phonebook with out even thinking about it. The specops commander had grown up on a joint colony and knew a good deal about human customs so when Hudson held out his hand the Sangheili knew what the gesture meant.

"Nice to meet you sir" Hudson said as Vanthell took his hand.

"I have heard some about you, Jason Hudson" Vanthell said letting go of the human's hand "I look foreword to serving on the battlefield with you"

"I do as well, always good to do these joint operations together" Hudson said. Vanthell nodded and Hudson took his seat at one of the tables in the room. Veronica stood next to Vanthell up front and she cleared her throat.

"As we all know Shanxi was attacked by an unknown race we now know are called Turians" Veronica activated the projector and a picture from the battle popped up of a Turian solider firing his weapon.

"From what we could tell by the battle, they are quite the effective military force. They easily over powered the militia and managed to put up a good fight against our counter attack. We think that our loses that we would have sustained would have been worse but the Turians really didn't seem to commit to the planet that much. However the thing that concerned us is this" Veronica showed the video of the Turian ship surviving the MAC cannon of the _Miranda_. One of the Sangheili raised its hand and Veronica pointed at the large solider.

"Why does this cause concern? It had shields that could stop your gun, so do we" The Sangheili asked.

"The reason is mister…" Veronica said.

"My name is Vanyo"

"Well, Vanyo the other ships in the alien fleet could not survive the same hit and in fact when the shields broke it was a different pattern. This one ship did however survive the hit because its shields were like ours" Veronica said.

"This leads us to suspect that the covenant and these Turians are working together" Vanthell said "so we are looking into this, if it's true we may have a conflict that would on our hands that may surpass the Great War in size and its cost"

"From the recovered intelligence Hudson's team extracted we now have discovered that these Turians are not alone. They are part of a group called the conical, basically they made the UN for them and several other species that live in their space" Veronica tapped a button and pictures of a few more aliens popped up "This are some of the main ones and the ones that present the most threat. From left to right, they are the Asari, Salarians, our good friend the Turians, and the Batarians"

"Why are they threat?" Arianna asked.

"The reports finished today, the 9th MEF lost close to two thousand marines, a hundred ODST and even twenty-three spartans" Veronica said "while the enemy had only deployed one division and APC's. They also had no special warfare units, we had an entire company of spartans, ODST and even Team 7 got into the fray. That was also with their lack of shields that could withstand more then two rounds and their weaker small arms" Veronica paused a second "imagine how this war will go if they got plasma weapons or even just stronger shielding" The entire room was quite, the colonel had brought a very good point to the surface.

"Wait if they are part of a UN like government couldn't we go to this citadel and ask the council to stop this before it escalates?" a tall blonde spartan said. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a biker jacket over her black BDUs.

"That is a good point Eva" Veronica said as she pulled up a map from the Turian ship up and showed the area controlled by the council races.

"This council controls all this space, as you see its bubbles of control. We take this to mean that the relays are their only way between systems, they also guard the relays" Veronica said "if we tried to send even a fleet through it would be under constant fire. The citadel because they use relays is a year trip away via slip space but when we arrived we would have no clue if the Turians would open fire our not"

"Send a M345" Jorge Hetrich said. He had brown eyes and dark hair.

"Yes because infiltrating a government's base of operations is a great way to gain their trust" said a Sangheili. The those in the room looked his direction, the elite had bright red eyes from a slight genetic defect that he had, not unlike albinos but it only affected the iris. He was a taller elite, around eight foot two inches, and looked like a tank. He wore the standard specops armor that was pitch-black save for the gold shoulder puoldren on his left that signified he was a leader.

"Wow, the lizard boy speaks" Jorge said. The elite smashed his hand on the table and stood up facing the spartan who stood up to face the Sangheili.

"Got something to say, worm?" The elite said glaring at the human. Eva stood up and got between the two.

"Hetrich sit down" Eva said. The spartan grumbled and sat down, it may have been five hundred years but there were still people who mistrusted the Sangheili.

"And you, sit down" Eva said placing her hand on the elites chest and pushing slightly, the elite looked at her and than sat back down.

"Ry, I expected more composure from you than that" Vanthell said as he looked at the elite.

"I am sorry field master, I shall not happen again" Ry Nomi said as he placed his hand on his chest and bowed to Vanthell. The Sangheili leader looked around the room slightly before continuing his briefing.

"From what I have reviewed of the Intel we took from the Turians, they we most decently not committed to the assault. They thought it would just be a simple policing action" Vanthell said "that's why the fighting was not hardened and didn't last longer"

"The fact that they have some covenant shielding tech has greatly worried both the Union and UNSC" Veronica said as she leaned against the podium at the head of the room "To elevate their concern we are going after them, and get to the bottom of this"

"We are going to be working together as a team" Vanthell said "I expect all of the people in this room to be as the humans say, professional. I don't care if it's my place our not to say it, any petty grudges go out the window, any racial feelings are no longer in your head, and if you start a fight ill finish it" The Sangheili eyes narrowed as he looked at each one of the humans and Sangheili. He glanced over Eva who gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Don't glare at me field master, I don't hate Sangheili" Eva said "in fact it think some of them are rather cute" The room was silent for a few seconds and then Veronica cleared her throat drawing their attention back.

"Now our first objective is this research station that we discovered from the intelligence in Turian ship. We will be leaving with the 9th MEF who is responsible for securing the planet Tranak, the 3rd,4th, and 12th are going to secure the other Turian worlds in the system, as of 0745 this morning the UNSC and Union are going to war" Veronica said "we are currently head towards Eden Prime to pick up a special package, when we get there take some leave and get to know one each other. The people in this room will be the ones watching your back out there, I would recommend getting to trust one another"

March 14th 3232, 1345 SMT/ UNSC base on Eden Prime:

John walked up to the door on the side of the metal bunker, the door was labeled with a temporary sign "Colonel Haldean". The spartan made sure that his NWUs were nice and in uniform before he knocked on the door, the noise inside told him that the occupant was standing up from a desk. The door opened and Ack-Ack opened the door, he was wearing his own NWUs. His rank insigne gleamed on his color, and on his cover which was stuck in the rolled up sleeve of his uniform.

"Major, come on in" Ack-Ack said opening the door wider and held his arm out gesturing for John to enter. John walked through the door and promptly took his eight point cover off and tucked it into his sleeve. Ack-Ack closed the door behind them and sat back down at his desk, John took a chair on the other side of the metal table that was serving as Ack-Ack's temporary desk till the 9th shipped out for the invasion of the Turian territory that was right next to Shanxi.

"Sir, is wondering if I and my brother could take a week of leave to go to our hometown" John asked as politely as he could. The colonel was more than just a leader to the spartans of E company he become more of a father figure to the men, the ever dependable leader every solider wanted to be.

"You an Eden Prime native?" Ack-Ack asked taking opening up a case on his desk.

"Yes sir" John said "my hometown is only a hundred miles or so away"

"Really? What town are you from?" Andrew asked as he took a cigar from his case and cut the end.

"I grew up in Jefferson sir" John said. The colonel took another cigar out and handed it to the spartan. John was not much of a smoker but when Ack-Ack offered you one of his prized Cubans, by god you better take it. Ack-Ack pulled his Zippo out from one of the pockets on his NWUs and lit the stogie in his mouth. He flicked his wrist closed and handed the Zippo over to the major. John took it flicked it open and worked its action, the flame sprang to life from the nozzle. John placed the flame to the end of his cigar and inhaled letting it out slow. Ack-Ack stood and walked over to a window, he took the cigar form his mouth and watched as a pelican landed.

"I went Perry, your rivals if I remember correctly" Ack-Ack said "you play football?"

John was still a little in shock from learning that his CO had gone to the school that rivaled his.

"Yes sir, I did" John said "My senior year we went twelve and one, we lost to Ursine in the regional finals game"

Ack-Ack took another puff from his cigar, he was staring off into space it seemed.

"I remember, I was at the game on leave. I say you, you could run that ball better then any others on that field, you lead them. Both you and Jason did, I was there with a bunch of guys from the company when I was just a squad leader. My CO had come as well that's when we decided that offer you being a spartan" Ack-Ack said "I still hate that school, stupid basterds should have not even been in your division. They out numbered you, they were bigger but your whole team fought as hard as they could, true spartans all of you"

John listened to Ack-Ack, _he was at that game?_.

"Its football season now here is it?" Ack-Ack asked the major. The calendar was set to earths and when it was early winter beginning of spring on the home world Eden prime was head for its fall season in the northern hemisphere were John and Jason's town was ;located in.

"Yes sir, it is" John said.

"You boys earned some extended leave, I want you and your squad back here by 1900 on Tuesday next week, understood Major?" Ack-Ack said facing the spartan. John stood up and faced the leader.

"Yes sir, thank you sir" John said "I appreciate this so much, we haven't been home the entire time we have been in service"

"Just be sure not to get into to much trouble" Ack-Ack said. John nodded and turned for the door, he placed his cover back on and straightened it up on his head. The major opened the door and walked out into the base, _that boy better make it through this entire thing, I can't think of anyone else who is such a natural leader._ Ack-Ack smiled at his thought and sat back down at this desk and picked up a pin.

"God damn it, I hate paperwork!" the colonel yelled out.

March 14th 3232, 1517 SMT/ UNSC base on Eden Prime:

John sat in the pick up truck, it was larger model and had a fairly big bed that he had rented out in front of one of the many barracks on the base. John was wearing his civilian clothing, just some simple jeans and a white t-shirt. In the seat next to him sat Kat, John invited her to go as well and visit home. The girl had jumped at the opportunity to go visit her home and spend more time with John before he had to ship back out for the assault into the Turian territory. She had on a midriff cut tank top and a pair of jeans. She was leaning up against the spartan she was falling head over heals for. They had put their bags in the bed of the truck and where waiting for the rest of the squad to show up. Vehicles from a civilian stand point had not changed much since the Great War, most where wheel based cars and trucks and only the wealthiest families could afford to by the hover cars. The engines of the vehicles were improved and most cars used hydrogen for fuel where the only by product was water the only exception was military vehicles that used a plasma based system based of the covenants ground craft from the Great War. The outer colonies often had more rugged vehicles in service by the population. Eden Prime was founded one hundred years ago and the relay nearby and the fertile nature of its soil lead it to become a major trading colony for farmed goods. The result was a build up of cities around the many spaceports that were established as families seeking a fresh start and opportunity arrived by the millions. The planet boomed literally almost over night as even some Union arrived to farm.

Jason walked out of the barracks with his duffle bag slung over his shoulder, it was full of clothing for the week in Jefferson that Ack-Ack had granted them and their squad. Jason tossed his duffle bag in the back of the truck and hosted himself up and over the wall around the bed of the truck. Julie and Carrero walked out with a cooler in between them, they shuffled towards the back of the truck. Jason walked over and grabbed the tailgates handle and dropped the gate. The two with the cooler hosted it up and on to the back of the truck. They went back into the building as Robert, Yazid, and Marie walked out with their bags and tossed them into the truck. The four spartans in the bag of the truck sat down in the bed of the truck and waited for the rest of them to show up. The rest of the squad came out the door and hopped in as they tossed their bags over the side, one of which landed on Yazid who was falling asleep his head on the duffel bag. The group laughed as the Muslim was suddenly brought back to world of the awake.

"What the fuck?" the man yelled out as the group chuckled. Jack closed the tail gate and then walked around to the passenger side of the truck and hopped to navigate for John since he had never been at this base before.

Jason was sitting at the front of the truck bed as his brother accelerated and the ten spartans plus Kat were on their way towards Jefferson. Damon set the boom box he had been carrying down and cranked the speakers as loud as they would go, Tommy Cochrane's famous, classic and timeless song played through the speakers. Life is a highway was blaring out as they drove out the gate, and down the road where Ack-Ack was headed back to base after going to lunch with some fellow. They passed the colonel on their way out, Jason gave him a wave as they speeded past him. _I think asking that group not get in trouble was a mute point_ Ack-Ack thought shaking his head when he saw the truck fly by with Julie, Marie, Jason, Yazid, Damon, Robert, Carrero, and Angelica in the back of it.

Jason was enjoying the feeling of riding in the back of the truck, the wind blowing by in the near one hundred degree heat.

"Hey, Yazid hand me a beer!" Jason yelled over the music and wind as John took the truck up to highway speed. The Muslim reached into the cooler and grabbed a can for himself and Jason to whom he tossed the beverage. The other spartans all took some beers for themselves, Jason popped the top on his and held his out.

"A toast, to a battle well fought and one hell of a party afterwards!" Jason yelled, all the other spartans cheered and they all tried to down their cans first. Angelica was the winner this time, much to the men's dismay but caused the other women to laugh.

"You know, this is not the safest thing we could be doing!" Jack yelled "We are in the back of a pick up truck going nearly seventy miles an hour!"

"Yes, and what we do for a living is safer" Carrero said rolling his eyes "Besides this is not the craziest thing we have ever done on leave"

The group was silent, smiling at their moment of relative peace in their world that was filled with nothing but war.

**2157 CE,1903 SMT( March 14****th****)/ Trevnor's private ship:**

**Councilor**** Trevnor walked into the room on his ship that was linked to the quantum entanglers that went to the many different people that he was using in his conspiracy to take control of the citadel and even the council for the Turians. The Turian stood in the room as the holographic representation of Nithlo appeared before him. **

**"Nithlo"**** Trevnor said acknowledging the general. Trevnor walked to his chair and sat down and sipped some of the water that was in a glass in the cup holder on the chair. **

**"We lost at Shanxi" Nithlo said "and the humans captured a ship, we could not destroy it or retake it"**

**"Well, this is troublesome" Trevnor said leaning foreword "that means that they now know about the citadel, and defiantly know about the mining colonies we have in that system. I expect the invasion my be sooner then original expected" **

**"I would agree, I managed to find myself a new XO. He is most defiantly dedicated and I know that he will put the hierarchy before the council, he may even prove to be a valuable person to have in on the truth of the matter so he understands what exactly is happening and why"**

**"Yes, maybe but first study him. Watch him lead, listen to what he has to say and above all else if he is not to know he must not find out" Trevnor said "no one can discover the truth if they do, the repercussion would be to great to handle"**

**"That is true, ill talk with you later councilor" Nithlo said. **

March 14th 3232, 2131 SMT/The Wells house:

Mrs. Wells was sitting on her couch watching the news, the story about Shanxi that was on was about a group of spartans that been influential in the battle. She knew her sons were at the battle but she didn't know exactly what unit they belonged to and since they wore that armor that fully encased them made it impossible for her to pick her sons out of the footage that was being displayed on the screen, the reporter said something about sierra squad. She was not paying attention to the TV anyway but was more focused on the book she was reading. The noise of a truck pulling into the driveway drew her attention from the page she was on and looked up to see headlights flash by through the window as the vehicle pulled into the usual parking spot that her sons parked in when they were at home. She heard a car door open and shut and a bunch of voices walking towards the front door of her home. She heard a knock at the door and stood up to go answer it.

"Now, who goes and visits somebody at nine-thirty at night?" She said to herself as she grabbed the door handle and opened the gate to the outside of her sanctuary that was her house. Her Jaw dropped when she saw her two boys standing on her door step, Jason was wearing his usual grin along with his jeans. His shirt was black and had the spartan insignia on it in silver. John was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, the only other person she recognized was Kat who was located under Johns arm and had her arms around him.

"Hi mom" Jason said smiling.

March 14th 3232, 2131 SMT/The Wells house:

Ry Nomi sat at a bar in outside the city of Manchester, the capitol of Eden Prime. He was on leave till they had to leave with the 9th MEF, he was wearing a sleeveless white shirt and jeans that were cut to fit around Sangheili's legs. Ever since the Union and UNSC had started to create joint colonies both sides had undergone culturally changes. Sangheili in the military used to wear their armor all the time but now that wasn't the case. Humanity and the species of the union had also experienced the phenomena of interspecies relationships, psychologist tried to explain it but most people said it was because personality was becoming more important to people. Ry was alone, he was a nice person but he preferred to be alone for the most part. He grasped the mug of beer and took a long drink. He heard the door open but he didn't look up, he was to busy thinking. The sound of boots on the wood floor echoed through the bar as someone walked up to the counter. Ry looked over, his red eyes studying the person who pulled the stool out from the bar and sat down next to him. The person was a human female, she wore a tan jumpsuit the front of which was unzipped and the black under clothes underneath were visible. Ry quickly averted his gaze from her, saving him and her, the embarrassment of being caught staring. The women chuckled as she looked over at him, she had bright blue eyes and her blonde hair fell in waves.

"See something you like?" She said to the elite.

"I, uh…" Ry said stumbling for words. The women laughed, making the elite grumble as he looked away and took another drink.

"I more" the human said holding up her hand, the bartender nodded and sent another mug sliding down the length of the counter to the girls awaiting hand.

"Don't be so embarrassed Ry" the women said. The Sangheili snapped around his red eyes questioning and suspicious. He looked her over and then he recognized her as one of the spartans from the _Black Dog. _

"Eva, that's your name right?" Ry asked her, he had relaxed when he recognized her as a comrade.

"Yeah, don't ware it out honey" She said taking a drink from her mug. Ry turned foreword.

"So what you doing out here all by your lonesome Ry?" Eva asked.

"I hate the city, it's too loud and crowded. Besides out here the sky is not blanketed by smog and pollution, I can look up and see the stars" Ry said "I know, sounds like I am a whim as you humans say"

"No, you don't sound like a wimp. Hell you are a special operations elite Ry, one of the most feared forces in the entire galaxy" Eva said, she drank more. Ry looked at her, for such a tough creature he had a sensitive side.

"See, the thing is I don't like to be feared" Ry said as he looked at her his red eyes were somewhat downcast "Ever since I was born my own people were scarred of me, my father favored my brothers more. I was always the weaker one, the slower one and the genetic defect that gave me my red eyes made all the other children scarred of me"

"Well, shame on them" Eva said before she grabbed his arm and squeezed it "and you decently don't seem weak to me, and that's from a spartan"

"Thanks, so how did you find me?" Ry asked her.

"I didn't, it was purely by accident" Eva said "so tell me about your self Ry"

**2157 CE****, 1903 SMT (March 14****th****)/ Turian research station in the Charon system:**

**Torc sat at his desk in the lab on board the research ****station ****_Discovery, _****he was looking through a microscope at what appeared to be a sample of dead tissue that was tacked down to the plate. The scientist moved the slid and placed another sample under his gaze. He sighed and sat back in his chair and activated his Omni tool and turned on the recording program so he could keep a log of his study. **

**"While we have managed to find away to ****stabilize the virus we still have yet to find away to make it only affect UNSC, Union, and Covenant species. From what I can tell through my numerous experiments the virus is far too adaptable to its environment. Without a marker on board to create a safe zone, I am unwilling to test its capabilities on anything larger then that of a piece of meat" as the scientist rumbled on about his findings he failed to notice the sample bend and force itself over the tack that held it down. The flesh writhed as parts of it mutated into legs, and even a mouth formed. The little creature crawled of the desk and snuck up on the unsuspecting Turian. Torc didn't feel the thing crawl up the back of his seat but when the thing clamped its jaw down onto the Turians neck, Torc finally could tell something was wrong but it was too late as he pulled the squirming thing from his neck. He watched it wriggle as his vision faded into black. Torc died in his seat a victim of his own creation but his work was not finished with him. The Turians body started to convulse and twitch as the virus took effect. **

**So, there you go chapter five. Please leave a review.**


	6. Good times for some, bad for more

**Real short chapter for me but this is the last of the "filler chapters" in between the battle of shanxi and the rest of the war. This story is getting really good feedback and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

March 17th 3232 0930 SMT/ the Wells House:

John lay in his old bed inside the room he grew our in, the dark blue comforter warmed the sleeping spartan. Johns arm was draped around Kat as she slept next to him; John's eyes opened as the sun from outside cast its glow on the sleeping figures. John was at one point in his life a heavy sleeper but being a spartan had changed that, like all other spartans his body was unconsciously on alert at all times. John raised one arm to block the sun out and looked around his old room; memories were coming back to him. The light blue walls with green coming up from the bottom to meet the blue half way and form a horizon. The dressers held trophies, pictures and books from his childhood. The solider got out of the bed as carefully as possible to avoid disturbing the beauty that also occupied his bed. John step as lightly as he could to the door and opened it, heading out in to the hall of the third floor of his old home. He could smell his mother cooking breakfast down stairs, the scent of bacon and eggs wafted through out the house. John smiled, _just like all those years ago_ he thought with a sense of déjà vu.

He reached the stairs; the hardwood floor of the steps was cold on his bar feet as he stepped off the soft carpet that made up the floor of the third story. The old wood creaked a bit under the spartans heavy footsteps. He reached the bottom of the staircase and walked into the kitchen, the large windows in the back of the room let the morning sun in. Jason was all ready at the table, his head against the table still sleeping right up until their mother put his breakfast inform of his face. John walked by and smacked him on the back of the head waking him up. Julie and Mrs. Wells where making the food, the bacon sizzled and the sound of the toaster popping up a golden brown slice of bread made Johns mouth water.

"Seems like old times" John said pulling out a chair and sitting down next to his brother.

"Yeah, just like old times" Jason said rubbing his head.

"Where is everyone else at?" John asked curiously. He was concerned with letting his squad run around in his old home he didn't want to leave anything for his mother to clean up when they left for the base to ship back out.

"Most everyone is still asleep" Julie said leaning against the counter "Just us three early risers I guess" The strawberry blonde women sipped some coffee from a mug "Mrs. Wells, this is some really good coffee"

"Julie, you don't need to call me Mrs. Wells. Alex will be fine"

John looked around the kitchen, his brother was all ready back asleep on the table and a few more of the squad straggled in. Damon and Robert stumbled by before them to sit back down in a chair. Mrs. Wells and Julie scrapped together the food and placed it on the table in front of the hungry soldiers, Jason's head instantly shot up. He grabbed a plate from the stack in the middle of the wooden dining room table and started to pile on food; the other two spartans did the same as John stood up and got some a mug out for coffee.

"Hey, Jason" John said as filled the mug to the brim. Jason looked at him eyebrow raised, his mouth full of food. "I was thinking that we should go see coach at the school today, it's a Friday"

"That is wonderful idea; I bet he would be happy to see both of you after all these years" Mrs. Wells said as she took some food and dug into her own breakfast "Jason leaves some for the rest of us"

John chuckled a bit and took another sip from the mug he had grabbed; he glanced at it and realized what mug he had grabbed a hold of. The ODST comet blazed on it and the name on the handle read James Wells. The spartan stood still for a moment, his mind running back to memories of his father. John shrugged it off and sat down at the table and began to eat his mooning meal before Jason took all the food on the plates.

Around half an hour later John and Jason sat in the cab of the pickup truck that they had rented, the sun was up and there was not a single cloud in the sky. John put the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. The truck slowly backed out of the driveway before John slammed his foot on the gas and went tearing down the road. Jason chuckled as the wind blew by the truck as it speeds along the road.

"You hopping to see Sheriff Monroe again?" Jason asked his brother. John gave him a half grin before he made the truck speed up even more.

March 17th 3232 1015 SMT/ Jefferson High School Eden Prime:

Mark Wolfe sat at his desk in his classroom; he was enjoying the peace and quiet of his free period. He reached under his desk and opened the mini-fridge that he kept there and pulled out a can of mountain dew. He popped the top on it and leaned back in the chair, his mind was constantly thinking about plays, stats and anything else that might help him plan for the game against Edgewood tonight. He heard a knock on the door to his class and got out of his large soft office chair grumbling as he did. He walked over to the door and grabbed hold of the handle. He opened the door expecting to see one of his players but instead he was greeted by two people that he had not seen in fifteen years.

"Hey coach" John said holding out his hand smiling. Mark looked up at his old running back; the boy he knew in high school was almost all gone. Jason stood behind John in the hall; he was smiling the usual goofy smile that he had become known for in his youth.

"Well, this is a surprise" Mark said as he let the two brothers into his classroom "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be out putting foot to ass?"

"We all ready did that" Jason said "we are on leave while our MEF gets reinforced and resupplied" Mark sat back down in his chair and the two brothers to in the desks, feet on the seat while they sat on the table of the desk.

"Well, you guys certainly grew" Mark said grabbing two more sodas out of the fridge and hand one to each of the brothers "What unit you guys with, ODST like your father?"

"No, we are not" John said "Spartans, third brigade"

"Really, no shit" Mark said "knew there was something special about you two. No wonder you guys grew you got more steroids in you than Rebelli did his senior year"

The three laughed at the joke about their old teammate who used too many supplements while in high school. Jason popped the top on the can of mountain dew and took a long drink.

"So how is the team doing this year?" John asked his coach "We can't exactly get the local news on ship"

"Well, so far we are three and o. We have Edgewood tonight, should be tough game but nothing we haven't faced before" Mark said "Our quarterback is one of the best to ever come through the school, he my be able to brake some of Jason's records"

"Really, now we defiantly showing up tonight" John said.

"You know what that gives me an idea, what if you guys would give the pre-game speech to the team, hell ill even let you run out with us and everything" Mark said "the whole town knows who you are, the players I have now grew up hearing stories about the Wells brothers, you are heroes to some of them"

"I don't know coach" Jason said.

"Ill give you a coach's shirt" Mark said.

"Deal"

March 17th 3232 1045/ Eden Prime/ ONI Base:

Hudson walked through the halls of the ONI base; the other members of the briefing followed him. They where here to pick up a package of some sort but why they need everyone plus their gear was far beyond him as to the reason why they did. The group round a corner into the hanger bay in the base, they came face to face with a large ship. The craft resembled the old world SR71 blackbird but much bigger, the docking ramp was dropped down to allow the team access. Hudson shrugged his duffle bag up onto his shoulder and walked towards the ramp, Veronica was standing at the bottom of the ramp waiting for the team. Hudson walked up to the colonel and nodded to her in greeting.

"So, Hudson what do you think of our new ship?" Veronica asked the ONI agent. Hudson looked around at the craft; it was a dark black color.

"It's a big ship, what is it for?" Hudson asked her as the two started up the ramp into the belly of the ship. Veronica kept instep with the spartan up the ramp.

"Its new breed of craft, designed specifically for ONI" Veronica began "this ship can cloak, remain undetectable as long as its power is running. There is archer missile launchers and one plasma torpedo launcher for defense only"

"Ma'am, just how far are we going under?" Eva asked from behind the two.

"Going under?" Veronica asked "this is the kind of mission where the entire record is dipped into black ink"

The team followed the colonel into the bridge of the ship. The two pilots seats where up at the front and slightly higher than the rest of the craft. The bridge was fairly small for most combat craft, with only ten stations for crew.

"Welcome to the bridge of the _Mason_" Veronica said "She has a crew of around fifteen, plus us. Every one of you now knows what you are in for, we have no idea how far we will haft to go into enemy territory. I expect you to all be as professional as possible"

"You all will have shared berthing; now get settled in so we can take off"

Hudson walked towards the rear of the bridge and through a few halls till he came to the barracks. The door opened and Hudson stepped through to see enough racks for the team. He tossed his bag down on one of the racks; he started to unpack the uniforms and other necessary items and putting them in the locker. He pulled a picture from his bag as one of the Sangheili walked in. Hudson hung the picture up in the locker, he felt someone looking over his shoulder. He turned to see the elite with red eyes looking at the picture. The photograph was of a young human girl, she looked around eight. Her hand was holding onto a balloon and her face had a huge smile on it, her dark brown hair was blowing in a slight breeze.

"Your daughter, Hudson?" the elite asked him. Hudson sat down on his rack, his head down.

"Yes, she will be nineteen now" Hudson said "she will be going off to collage soon"

"Well, she is beautiful" the elite said "children are a blessing are they not?"

"I wouldn't know, she doesn't even know I exist" Hudson said lying down on the bed "she never can" the elite looked back a picture of the smiling child.

"Why is that?"

"I don't want to talk about it" Hudson said. The Sangheili nodded and headed for the door.

"And thanks for the compliment" Hudson said.

"Your welcome, my names Ry by the way"

Ry walked out of the door and headed to the armory to check on his weapons. The ship was made up of three decks. The top deck contained the bridge, armory and a good deal of the system rooms that controlled the stealth systems of the ship. The second contained the crew quarters and the entrance to the engine rooms at the back. The lower deck housed the small hanger that could hold one pelican and served as the main entrance onto the craft.

Ry walked climbed the ladder up to the third deck; the ladder well was large enough for him to fit up the chute but only just. The large Sangheili walked down the hall to the armory, the door opened and the elite walked into the room. Weapons from both the union and UNSC covered the wall, Ry smiled as he looked around the room. He walked over to the wall and picked up his weapon of choice. It was based on the needle rifle from the Great War but was improved to be standard issue weapon. The rifle looked the same but the workings had been remade so it was now a fully automatic weapon. Ry sat down and opened the central casing up and started to clean the system contactors. The door opened as Shepherd walked in and over to a rack of SMGs. The spartan grabbed one and opened the recover and pulled the bolt out and started to clean the weapon. He grabbed one of the SMGs and handed it to the elite. The large alien took the weapon in his hand and shouldered it as best as he could, it felt really small to Ry.

"Its going to be really close quarters on that station" Shepherd said "that long rifle wont be all that useful when its banging into stuff"

"Good point, ill keep that in mind" Ry said handing it back. The ships engine engaged and the craft rocketed out of the hanger and into the atmosphere.

March 17th 3232 1850 SMT/ Jefferson High School Eden Prime:

John and Jason stood in front off to the side in the locker room as coach Wolfe talked about the different plays. The team all sat on benches, or stood around the room so they could see the board. The standard uniform for football had not changed much, the basic pads, helmet and shoulder pads remained unchanged but the materials and strength of the different components had been. The team was around seventy kids; all dressed in their team colors black and red. The two brothers smiled as they thought back to the days they sat on the same benches and in the same uniforms.

"Now, tonight I have two people that you guys have all heard about and know about to speak to you" coach Wolfe said "these boys are some of the best players we have ever had on this team and now they are part of a much bigger team" John and Jason walked up to where the coach stood, being both around six four they dwarfed the head coach. John spook first to the players.

"So, how is everyone feeling tonight?" He asked the team.

"Great!" many of the team shouted out.

"Now, my name is John Wells, and this is my brother Jason" John said. The player eyes widened, these people had grown up hearing about the two brothers who stood before them.

"Me and my brother here played for coach Wolfe for four years" John said "but im not here to tell you kids about what we did, Im here to talk about you" John said as he looked around the room "You kids have so much pressure to get good grades, to get serious and prepare for life. Im here to say listen to those people but not for these two or three hours on a Friday night"

"These nights are about you boys, you and you alone" Jason said "your parents are in those bleachers, your friends are sitting next to you. These nights only come once a year, and only once in your life. Do not waste them, play your heart out every play, never quit driving, never quit fighting because then you will regret it and when you leave high school you don't want any regret holding you back"

"Now, enough sappy preachy stuff" John said before he yelled to the team "Whose ready to kick some ass!" the whole team got on their feet and started yelling "This other team is here to take your home field! This is your house!" John and Jason got the team yelling, and chanting. They lead the team from the locker room and out to the end zone of their home field. The team cheered and the crowd roared as they went running on to the field.

Tranak Research station 3232 (march 21st)

Havno Solus ran down the hall as fast as he could go, lights along the hallway flickered form the damage. The Salarians looked behind as he heard a scream from one of his colleagues as he was killed. Blood of the different races on the station covered the walls; the smell of death was everywhere. Havno made it to a door and hit the open button on the control panel, the noise of footsteps from behind him made him turn as he caught a glimpse of what looked like a Turian, but the eyes were dead. The poor mans arms had been bent and sword like blades where sticking out of his forearms. Havno grabbed the pistol he had picked up form one of the dead securities guards and fired at the creature as it ran at him. The rounds from the small weapon slammed into the creature's skull and eventually it destroyed the head. He dove through the door as it closed, Havno didn't waste anytime as he ran through the darkened halls, the noise of other things beginning to chase him echoed through the halls. Havno sprinted as far as he could, he slipped on something wet and landed on the ground he turned around just as something leapt and landed over him. The disfigured face of hid friend Mora storied at him blankly before razing its deranged looking jaw ands attempting to bite into Havno's neck. The Salarians scientist pushed the snapping thing away and managed to place the barrel of his pistol in the mouth of his friend's body and pull the trigger. The creature reared back and Havno slid out from under it but the creature was far from dead. It blindly started to swing a tall made of Mora's spine around trying to kill it's pray. Havno was too quick and didn't waste anytime but ran for the door at the end of the hall that lead into the hanger bay. He ran into the large open room, it was still well light and Havno saw one of the ships that they had still in good condition sitting with its entrance opened. The Salarians bolted for the door and he jumped in just as a swipe from one of the dead yet living creatures nearly severed him in half. He pulled the pistol out and fired into the thing until the weapon over heated. The door to the shuttle slammed shut and the Salarians breathed a sigh of relief. He walked up to the cockpit and engaged the thrusters; the shuttle roared to life and lifted form the floor. Havno punched the accelerator and speed out of the hanger and into space away from the hellish station.


	7. Offense

**Sorry for the long ass wait, I have been busy. School started and now I have a paper I got to start research for. I all ready got another speech to due for public speaking and wrestling is coming to an end in fact I have my sectional tournament tonight at six. Anyway this story has thirty four alerts and twenty seven favorites which is fucking awesome. **

March 21st 3232 1426 SMT/ Tranak/ Covgran City:

John sat in the seat of the pelican dropship's trooper bay nearest to the hatch at the rear of the trooper bay. The spartan watched outside the opening as the beginning of the battle waged on, the sounds of explosions and gunfire was constant. Smoke poured from a few of the buildings, the Turian citizens ran in terror as the UNSC began its conquest. The dropship banked low and between to large towers, the other two following them careened effortlessly around the tall buildings.

"Major ETA to LZ, Two minutes" the pilot said over the speakers in the trooper bay. John placed his rifle onto his back and stood up; he grabbed hold of the handles on the ceiling to steady himself as he faced the men in the bay with him. His nine other spartans looked back at him from behind their visors, the two squads of marines where fixated on him. The objectives the spartans and the marines had been given was to take the entrance to the highway system and then the platoons of spartans and marines need to push along the road, securing the area as the force pushed towards the center of the city. The city's arrangement was in a hub set up where the highway and other systems were in a radial design.

"All right troops you know the plan, me and the rest of the 7th platoon are being inserted and are going move directly on the Turian position, this is one of the most heavily defined positions in the city. We take this and we get control of the highways in this area, this makes moving a whole lot easier" John said before the dropship swerved to one side to avoid a rocket "You know the rest, you will be dropped of to out flank them!"

The dropship dropped down closer to the street, its engines flared up to keep the craft from crashing into the road.

"Thirty seconds till hit time!" the pilot said. The rest of the spartans got into prosecution at the back of the troop bay. John crouched down at the end of the offloading ramp at the rear of the trooper bay. He unslung his rifle and got a tight grip on it as he cradled it in his arms. He glanced over at Jason; his brother looked over at him quickly before hitting the bolt release on his BR57. The rest of sierra squad crouched down in front of the tow spartan leaders, alpha in front of John and Bravo in front Jason. The sound of the turian's guns firing roared as they started to shoot at the incoming dropship.

"Go! Go! Go!" John yelled. The spartan hopped up and back slightly and the dropship accelerated foreword. The other spartans all hopped the same way slightly as well and the floor literally flew out from underneath them. The spartans fell the ten feet to the pavement and as soon as their feet hit the ground all the spartans rolled to absorb the impact from the fall. The Turians had little time to react before the ten spartans were on their feet and moving. John stood up from his roll and sprinted at the enemy, his assault rifle blazing as he charged foreword. All the spartans in the squad followed suit, the Turians started to return fire but those who stood up were quickly forced down or dead from the rounds that went soaring at them. John slid into cover behind an abandoned car, his weapon empty. The other spartans had taken cover behind the various positions in the street. The Turians had a heavy machine guns mounted at the end of the street behind some barriers and were laying down some fairly heavy fire. John grabbed a fresh magazine and dropped the empty from his rifle and slammed the loaded one home. The assault rifles bolt rocketed foreword and Jason stood up and sent a quick burst of fire at a Turian, the rounds impacted the alien's shields but the Turian was quick and dropped back down.

"We need to take those guns out, they will tear us apart!" Angelica said as she dropped back down as the decorative flower bed she was hiding behind was light up by the machine guns at the end of the street.

"Alpha frags, Bravo smoke on my mark!" John yelled out to his squad. John pulled a frag grenade from its pouch and readied it.

"Mark!" the spartan yelled yanking the pin out and tossing the explosive over the car. The explosions rang out a few seconds later and the street was filled with smoke from the smoke grenades that bravo team had thrown. John and his squad rushed out from behind the cover and fried as the Turians tried to recover from the chaos of the grenades and smoke. John vaulted over a barricade and kicked a Turian in its stomach area; he quickly fired his rifle in burst as the Turians bullets clanked off his shields. The other spartans quickly begin to put rounds into the hostile aliens, the plasma encased rounds ripped through the enemy shields. The fire fight was far from over as the Turians that where farther up the junction of the highway and the ground street started to pour fire down on the spartans. John slid behind a barricade just as his shields failed, Damon wasn't as lucky as a round tore into the softer area of his armor near the shoulder.

"Ahhh!" Damon exclaimed as he rolled and ended up behind a barricade "Fuck you!"

The Turians suppressive fire was keeping the spartans pinned down, they would snap out of cover and fire bursts of rounds at the aliens. John snapped out and fired a few quick five round bursts at a few Turians who had come charging down the street. Their shields flared purple, one of them sent a mass of what looked like a deep purple plasma at Carrero who was sent flying, his shields broke and he was exposed to the Turians fire.

"Covering Fire!" Jason said as he and Damon sprinted out of cover towards the downed spartan who was groaning in pain. Rounds pinged around the spartans but most of the shoots where inaccurate as the tangos couldn't return fire from the volume the spartans were placing down range. Jason reached Carrero and hit the button to activate the rescue handle on the back of the spartans armor. Before Jason could start to drag the downed solider back to cover but one of the aliens that had the strange ablates sent a mass of the purple energy at Jason, which collided with him and sent him up in the area and started to spin in the air.

"What the Fuck!" Jason yelled as he started to fly around the air. He however knew that if he didn't do something he would be screwed so he fired at the Turians as best he could. Damon grabbed Carrero and started to drag the man back to cover, Jason's shields flared as the Turians fired at him.

"Echo 319, drop the marines!" John yelled over the comm. net work. The two pelicans roared overhead, some of the Turians turned their guns on the craft but those who exposed themselves got lit up by the spartans. The dropships roared and landed behind the Turians on the road and the marines stormed out flanking the Turians. The spartans kept firing at the Turians; the hostiles with the powers sent more of the strange orbs at the solders.

"Press foreword!" John said as he vaulted over the wrecked car and stormed foreword. The other nine spartans did the same; John heard a loud thump as Jason hit the ground when whatever happened was over. The Turians didn't know what to do as the marines pressed in form the sides and the spartans form the front. The Turians that tried to return fire where mowed down from the fire, one of the Turians sent a grenade into the middle of some marines, a few dived away but a few of the troopers were caught in the blast. One of the purple orbs hit a marine and the same thing that happened to Jason started to happen to four marines. John fired the last seven rounds in his magazine into a Turian that popped up from cover that was only fifteen feet away. John quickly used one of his hands to slid the empty rifle onto his back and with his other hand he brought his pistol up and leapt over the cover fired three rounds into a Turian, its shield flared purple and the alien punched at the spartan who was sent stumbling back a few steps and his pistol was sent flying. The marines had reached close enough to the Turians position and had taken cover. The other Turians were trying to shoot at the spartans that had them completely in their sights while the marine's fire forced them to stay low. John punched the Turian across its jaw and the creature stumbled back, its shields broke as john quickly smashed his foot into the alien's leg. By this time most of the other Turians were dead or bleeding out the marines pressed up and made sure to check the aliens for any life signs. The alien John had kicked was on the ground, its leg bent at a strange angle.

"Boss" Yazid said as he picked up Johns pistol and tossed it back to him. John took it and leveled it with the aliens head and fired three times.

"HQ, this is Sierra 1. Position secure" John said.

"Roger that Sierra 1, what is your casualty counts?" the HQ controller said.

"Stand by HQ" John said as he sat down behind a barrier. "PLs get over here" Two marines came running up and crouched down near the spartan.

"What is your casualty count?" John asked the two sergeants.

"We got five men dead and three wounded from first platoon" Said the first sergeant, his nameplate read Neibecker.

"Seven dead, four of them got trapped in that thing. Two wounded" the second said, his name was Somes.

"All right, we are going to stay here and wait for reinforcements then move up the highway" John said. Just he finished speaking a loud bang thundered over the quieter gunshots form firefights farther away.

"Incoming!" Damon yelled as he and few of the others dove just as one of the corners of a building exploded. The two sergeants slammed up against the barrier. John holstered his side arm and grabbed his rifle; he quickly slammed a fresh magazine into place.

"HQ, this is Sierra 1!" John said as he peeked over cover and saw a large group of Turians and a large tank like vehicle start towards them form down the road. "We have a large counter-assault head our way! We need fire support!"

"Roger Sierra 1" John glanced over cover and activated the fire support software and saw the grid get layer down.

"Air Strike, Danger Close" John began a few rounds hit the edge of the barrier and he dropped down then went back up "grid 59-43"

"Roger, ETA four minutes"

John ducked down as a tank shell smashed into the ground and sent two marines flying. The spartan stood and fired at the advancing Turians, a few of them hit the ground. The sound of grenade launchers going off reached Johns ears as the UNSC troops fired high explosive rounds into the middle of the advancing Turians. John kept firing; the two marine sergeants were still next to him.

"Somes Take your men and take up firing positions in that building on the left! We will cover you!" John said. Owen nodded and moved up to a group of his men and told them what John had just said. The marine platoon under Neibecker command and the spartans laded down suppressive fire as best they could as the other marines moved into the building. A loud bang of a spartan rifle firing split the air as the round punched through the tanks armor and shields but it didn't hit the cockpit but the round hit something important to the vehicles mobility since it could no longer move. The tanks leveled its barrel at Julie.

"Oh shit!" she said just before the shell exploded near her and sent her flying into a wrecked car near Jason. Jason grabbed her and pulled her behind the cover, he quickly checked her vitals. He gave his brother thumbs up; the signal meant she was still alive for the time being. By now the marines in the building where able to start putting fire on the Turians. A rocket soared out but a laser from the tank intercepted it and destroyed the explosive round.

"Great it was a point defense system" John said to himself. The scream of a Saber's engines echoed of the buildings as the craft came into to deliver its ordnance. The Saber had changed little in over all shape and design but was now adapted and had received many upgrades to keep it in service. The fighter launched a salvo of missiles at the tank, the entire street exploded violently. The tank was gone and most of the Turians on the street where as well but more of their infantry was moving foreword.

"Damn, the really want this position back!" John said as he fired at the Turians.

"Well no shit!" Damon began "their main space port is only up the road a few clicks!"

"Sierra 1, this is HQ"

"Go ahead HQ!" John said.

"There is a massive enemy force head your way, the group was just the beginning" the HQ radioman said.

"What the hell is going on command!" John asked.

"The Turians are counter assaulting their way into our LZ and are trying to reconnect to that space port and you're in the way"

"Great!" John said "Maybe today is a good day to die"

"We have reinforcement on the way; ETA for infantry is thirty seconds. A tank support Coolum is in route but will take awhile to get there. You have priority one on fire support"

"Roger!" John said. The Spartans and marines kept on firing, the sound of ODST pods smashing into the ground resonated as the HEVs hit the ground and their occupants stormed out. The pods landed on roofs, few on the street and couple landed near John. The hatch flew off and an ODST stormed foreword and slid into cover near the spartan.

"Welcome to the big suck!" John said to the ODST.

"Yeah, hope you got room for five platoons" the man said.

"Yeah it's a fucking party" John said standing and laying down more fire on the Turians "What unit are you guys?" John asked.

"Best they could send ODST 101st rangers!"

March 21st, 1525 SMT 3232/ Space near Turian research station/ UNSC stealth ship _Mason_:

Hudson and his task force sat hanger of the _Mason_, the task force was broken down into three teams labeled Whiskey, X-ray, and Arbiter. Whiskey was lead by a spartan named Jack, along with two other spartans and elite. X-ray was lead by Hudson; he had his team members form the OP at Shanxi with him, Arianna and Shepherd along with a two more spartans Jim and Mike. Arbiter team was lead by Ry and was the largest team; it consisted of Ry, Eva, three other spartans and the last six elites. The entire group was outfitted with SMGS that where suppressed along with suppressed pistols, NVG and Thermal imaging equipment, and Flash bangs. The task force AI was Sarah, and she spoke to the group over the speakers in their helmets.

"The station is quite, no signs of life" Sarah began her avatar was projected in the center of the group that was standing in a large circle.

"The life support systems are functioning so safe air is not a problem, along with gravity control" Hudson stepped foreword; his commando helmet was in his right hand. All the spartans armor had been changed for the operation. All the spartans and Sangheili had on HAZOP breathing gear and booster packs. The elites wore a ranger combat harness and he spartans wore their usual armor configuration just with the HAZOP breather.

"The mission plan is simple, Arbiter team is to take the main control center and upload Sarah into the mainframe. Whiskey team is to secure the hanger and keep our exit secure, My team is going in to secure the Lab and find out what in the hell these scaly basterds are working on" Hudson said as he placed his helmet on his head and it sealed "We are going to jump to the stations hanger and then use a pelican for the return trip" The hanger door opened to allow the troops to leave. The Sangheili and spartans reached the edge and jumped towards the station that was only two hundred yards away. The groups black armor kept the hidden from anyone looking out a viewport. As they drifted along through space, silently the booster packs fired as they adjusted trajectory. Hudson reached the station first and set down on the surface and waited for the others the arrive. The group did and the twenty of them regrouped on the outside of the station.

"Ok, Ry I want you and three of your team to breach in through this window" Hudson said "Everyone else get to the airlock"

"Eva, Thenvel, Narema on me" Ry said as he lead them down the stations hull to the window. Ry crouched down and looked over to the top of the windows edge; he saw no one and quickly placed a breaching charge on the window. The charge that was being used was designed to punch through frigates airlock doors and view ports to allow boarding teams to gain access; its powerful blast was made with a shaped charge. Ry and the others prepped the gravity theaters and positioned themselves as if they where repealing.

"Ready when you are" Eva said. Ry nodded and the four soldiers jumped out and the gravity tethers locked them in place and their mechanism swung them foreword as the charge went off. Just as this all happened a group of three Salarians ran through the door and fired at something on the other side just out of the ONI team's vision. The window exploded inward and the Salarians where sucked out just as the four troops swung inside and their gravity tethers disengaged and they hit the floor. Eva snapped her gun onto the door but it closed before she could see what the Salarians were shooting at. The windows safety shutter closed and the hall became pitch black.

"Activate your NV" Ry said, the area suddenly returned to sight, everything had a green hue to it.

"Hudson where in, there were three Salarians that got sucked into space" Ry began he scanned the room "They were shooting at something but we didn't see what"

"Roger, move to the airlock and let the rest of us in" Hudson said "We will worry about that once we all are inside the station"

"Roger" Ry said, "lets move" The four man team walked towards the NAV waypoint that popped up on their HUD. The door on the other end the hall opened as they approached it, the Night vision lights the room up. The airlock was fifty yards farther in through the room, the room was large and around three stories tall. A small bridge spanned the room, the Sangheili and Spartan snapped around as they heard screaming from a small room. Ry quickly gave the team hand signals to stack up on the door, Ry and Thenvel where on either side, Eva and Narema where stacked up behind Ry. Ry nodded to Thenvel, the elite quickly swung his foot through the door. The door was designed to slide in half this time it more or less bent in half as Sangheili hoof crashed through. The other three stormed into a small room, it was a small break room and it was covered in blood. A few dead Turians and Salarians where scattered around the room, and the blood covered the room.

"Wow, we missed one hell of a party" Eva said.

"This was not caused by gunshots" Thenvel said "Come on lets get going, Hudson needs to see this" The four man team left the room and headed across the bridge to the other side of the room and then proceeded inside the hall. The hall was covered in blood, the lights that where in the hall were damaged and flickering.

"Oh, shit" Ry said. They walked through carefully making sure to watch every area in the hall.

"Damn, there is a lot of blood in here" Eva said as she walked back wards watching the teams six.

"Yeah, but where are all the bodies?" Narema asked. The others quickly realized that there was not a single body, not even a limb or any other body part laying around the hall. Ry stopped at another hatch and hit the open switch and the team stormed in scanning the area.

"Why do I get the feeling we are being watched" Thenvel said as he looked around the room, he activated his thermal vision and looked around again. He glanced over a vent and saw a blue shape move away.

"What the fuck!" Thenvel said as he snapped his SMG to the vent. The rest of the team did as well; Ry slowly shuffled his way to the airlock door.

"Hudson we are at the airlock, im opening it now" Ry said. He used the controls and opened the exterior door and the rest of the team pilled in, the interior door opened and seventeen more Sangheili and spartans poured in.

"What's going on Ry?" Hudson asked.

"I don't know but Thenvel saw something and hasn't moved his sights from that vent" Ry said "Thenvel, what did you see?"

"Blue moving" Thenvel said. The team looked at him funny, the way their thermal vision system worked is that orange was living beings, blue was something to cold to be alive, and gray was any structures such as walls and floors.

"I don't like this, but we have our objectives so get moving" Hudson ordered and the teams split "if it moves and is not tagged as friendly kill it" The team dispersed, Ry and his group headed out.

"Well, it looks like we need some direction" Sarah said, she was currently stored in Eva's armor but had remained quite up until now. Nav markers appeared on the groups HUDs, Ry quickly gave hand signals to breach the next door, four of the group stacked up and they stormed into the room.

"Clear" one said and the rest of the group walked through, they were watching the entire area, blood seemed to be every where.

"Shouldn't there be the stations crew or something?" one spartan asked.

"There all dead" an Elite said "looks like the Floods work"

"One problem with that, the flood are gone except for those stored on the rings" another elite said.

"Cut the chatter and check your corners" The group walked in silence till the came to the central chamber it was a large room with a hall that went all the way around. The control area was shaped in a octagon with windows all around and the hall outside is where the group stood; they walked along to find the door. Ry was in the front and he saw the door, he hoped to the other side and the group stacked up to breach and clear the room. He activated the door and they stormed in, they didn't expect a group of Salarians whose arms snapped up they had no weapons.

"Secure them" Ry said "Eva, get Sarah into the system"

The Salarians were cuffed and placed in chairs each had a guard near them, Ry wasn't taking any chances with this operation. The massive Sangheili crouched down and took of his helmet, his red eyes glared at the Salarians.

"Now, you are going to tell exactly what happened here" Ry said, the headset he had on translated his voice into their language. The software was written with the Intel Hudson team captured on board the Turian frigate three weeks ago. Before the Alien could speak an alarm sounded and a bunch of orange lights started to flash around the room.

"Warning quarantine activated, unknown viral life form detected"

"Oh shit" a spartan said.

Ry stood back up, the lights flashed the sound of roaring and growling filled the air. The Sangheili raised his weapon with one and went for his helmet with the other. He was however blinded by some sort of red flash before he could get the helmet on. He collapsed on the floor unconscious from the flash, Eva ran over.

"Ry!" she said "Fuck!"

The female spartan quickly put the Sangheili helmet back on to his head.

"Thenvel, Verona, carry him and let's get the fuck out of here" Eva said. Just then a vent fell in and strange, grotesque creatures come pouring into the room

March 21st 1547 SMT 3232/ Turian research station:

Hudson's team walked along the halls, the spartan couldn't shake the feeling of being observed and he didn't like it. The halls so far had remained darkened and the need for their NV systems was constant, the closer they got to the lab the more a sense of foreboding took over them. The amount of blood on the floors and walls had also increased; still no bodies could be seen. Hudson held up his hand when he heard a banging sound, it came from an open door way. The team slunk along the wall, their footsteps despite the nearly eight hundred pounds of armor and gear were quite and muffled. Hudson glanced around the corner and saw a Turian solider, obviously a guard for the station banging his head against a pipe. Hudson watched him then smash his head again and again until the alien's skull couldn't take it and it smashed its own skull to pieces. The Turian died with a sicking crunch and slid down to the floor, Hudson looked away.

"Let's keep moving" Hudson said as he walked along the hallway, his team close behind them.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Arianna asked as the team reached the door to the lab.

"No idea maybe this lab will give us some answers" Mike said.

"Stack up" Hudson said. The spartans readied themselves along the wall and Hudson held up his hand with three fingers. Then something moved inside the room and it appeared on the spartans motion tracker.

"Flash and clear" Hudson said "I want one of the workers alive"

The spartans nodded and Hudson counted down, Jim hit the door and Hudson tossed in a flash bang and the five spartans stormed in to see nothing there. The lab was covered in blood; everywhere they looked blood splotches even other fluids stained the white floors. The lights flickered tot eh point the NV system was malfunctioning, almost all the doors seemed to be broken outward.

"switch to thermal vision" Hudson said "come on, we need to find the directors office"  
The team walked down the hallway, the entire sense of foreboding was at an all time high and the hairs stood up on the groups back as their motion trackers went off or something clanged. It took a lot to scare a spartan, but unknown hostiles in a blood soaked space station with malfunctioning lights and no bodies to support the amount of blood would scare any one.

"Hudson, this looks wrong" Arianna said. The team reached a intersection of the halls and head to the left which lead to the offices the right to the lab station.

"Yeah way to much blood and no bodies, lots of motion but no hostile contact" Hudson said "yeah we are all a little freaked out"

"True but all those rooms we passed, the doors were not broken in or falling of a hinge." Arianna said as they entered what looked like a break room. Tables where flipped and bullet holes were everywhere.

"What about them?" Shepherd asked.

"The doors were bent out something didn't break in something broke out" Arianna said. The group stopped the news hit them like a sack of bricks.

"Keep moving" Hudson said. The team reached the office that had their Nav marker in it and they stepped inside. Arianna went over to the console and fired up the system, she pulled out a hacking tool and broke through the firewalls and got inside the computer.

"Good work" Hudson said. The team watched the doorway as the female spartan browsed through the computer. She found a file labeled "Necron" and opened it, a bunch of other files appeared.

"Hudson come in, this is Jack"

"Go ahead"

"The hanger is secure, the Mason already sent the pelican" Jack said

"How far is the hanger form the airlock we came in form?"

"A good half mile walk at least, we ran here to keep on schedule" Jack said.

"Roger that, keep the dropship safe. Hudson out"

"Hudson come over here" Arianna said. Hudson looked over the files; he looked at the different names. Each file was wither named as subject or trial, one caught Hudson's eye labeled as "Final Notes".

"Open that one" Hudson said. Arianna accessed the file and a video of a Turian popped up, he had blood on his clothing and held his side.

"This is director Vevor" the alien said "the necromorphic virus is too adaptable, and to dangerous. Our attempts to make it into a weapon are in vain, it adapts to quick and controlling them is imposable and there is no way to destroy the virus other then burning every last bit of flesh. We found that after we had to use a plasma wielding torch to reduce Fernyo's remains to ash and dust. If any one is watching this, this station must be destroyed along with all the others. I know Nithlo won't be pleased but if we unleash this the entire galaxy will be doomed. The pyramid I was given to work with the virus has managed to reveal to us one thing about the necromorphs" the Turian looked around as bang resonated in the room "it creates the virus like a marker, it even infects those around it with dementia of some sort. I removed it when the virus broke contain meant but its influence made the crew start to kill themselves, kill each other. I think I may be the last survivor. I keep seeing my wife, I know she's dead this thing is trying to kill me" the alien opened a safe in the wall and put a strange object inside of it "as long as you do not breath the same air as it has contact with then you are safe, it is so far beyond our understanding" just then a loud crash echoed and the Turian drew a pistol and started to shoot at something "all right you mother fuckers come get some!" the video continued and a deformed looking Salarians ran on screen, its hands where shaped in grotesque claws and it didn't stop after its right arm was blown off by the pistol. Vevor tried to duck but the creature swung and took the Turians head off and then shambled out of the screen. The video cut out, Hudson and Arianna looked at each other.

"Download everything now" Hudson said as he walked to the safe and ripped its door off. Inside was a strange black and red object, it appeared to be two elongated square pyramids connected at the base. Strange symbols covered its surface; they glow with a deep red light. Hudson picked it up and placed it onto a magnetic holder on his back and shouldered his SMG.

"Ry, come in" Hudson said "Ry, come in. do you read me?" The spartans looked at their leader "let's move"

Hudson's eyes got wide as he looked behind Jim, a Turian like creature stood behind him. He raised his SMG to fire but was to slow as the thing plunged to blade like appendages made form what appeared to be its hands into the soft armor areas around the spartans neck. The other four spartans quickly snapped their weapons on target and let lead fly. The SMG had remained ceaseless but its standard ammo was shredder rounds to make up for the lack of plasma encasement. The Turian like creature dropped to the ground as its limbs and chest cavity was blown apart, it was now a quivering mass on the ground. The team then ran from the room headed towards the control center were they knew Ry's team would be. More creatures came out of vents at them, they received fire and a few were dropped as they had legs blown off.

"Aim for the limbs, hitting them center mass does nothing!" Hudson yelled as they continued to run. A necromorphs came out of no where and smashed into the spartan the pyramid fell from his back and hit the ground and a bright red light erupted for a brief second and then was gone. Hudson lit the creature up and its limbs fell, Hudson grabbed the pyramid and yanked it back from the other side of the door to the lab area. It closed just as Hudson's arm recoiled the thing in hand.

"What the fuck was that?" Mike asked.

"I don't know but now is not the time to talk about it" Hudson said placing it on his back and then took off with his four remaining team members in tow.

March 21st 1550 SMT 3232/ Turian research station:

Eva and what remained of the group of eleven ran through the halls, they had lost three of the elites and two spartans. The creatures were everywhere, they had caught them by surprise and they proved to be hard to stop till the figured out that you must aim for the limbs by then it was to late for five of the group. Eva led them back the way the came to the airlock.

"Hudson, this is Eva do you read me?" she yelled.

"I read you" Hudson asked "we have made contact with unknown hostiles, get back to the airlock we are leaving"

"Good plan" Sarah said, she had been safely stored in Eva's armor again.

"Way ahead of you" Eva said. The group found the door to the airlock room and opened it. The six awake team members stormed in, a few of the creatures where there but they were quickly mowed down.

"Set up defensive positions" Eva said. The group moved to the air lock door and formed a half circle. The unconscious Ry was placed in the center of the group; the noise of the creatures had stopped. The team's motion trackers still read movement; the group watched hands gripped weapons tightly as they did.

"Jack, do you read me?" Eva said

"Yeah, what's going on up there?" the spartan said.

"Listen we made contact with some unknown hostile life form, I don't think we can make it to the hanger" Eva said.

"Shit, we got movement down here"

"Jack listen, aim for the limbs not center mass the limbs" Eva said as she continued the scan "Get on that pelican and bring it to the airlock we came in form"

"Got it, oh shit" Jack said. Eva heard the suppressed SMGs go off through the radio.

"Jack?"

"We're good, we will be there soon hang on" Jack said.

The creatures suddenly busted through one of the doors, the six solders fired at the group of on coming horrors. The legs of the necromorphs exploded from the shredder rounds. The creatures were dropped but kept crawling at them. Another door opened and Hudson's team came pouring in, Arianna stomped on one of the crawlers and crushed it in half. The necromorphs were as dead as they could get with in a matter of minutes.

"We won't make it to the hanger" Hudson said.

"I know Jacks bring the pelican up to the air lock" Eva said. The motion tracker buzzed again as more of the necromorphs came at them.

"Jesus Christ how many are there!" a spartan said as the creatures came pouring in to the small room yet again. The SMGS tore them apart but a Sangheili was pounced on by a leaping Turian like necromorph, the thing killed the trooper.

"Open the air lock im outside!" Jack yelled. Hudson hit the release button and grabbed a hold of Ry and drugs him into the airlock. The team covered him hit used the emergency release lever and now both doors where opened Hudson braced himself as the vacuum of space took over. He saw the pelican only a thirty or so yards away, He jumped dragging Ry behind him and landed safely in the troop bay of the pelican. The others fallowed quickly, Eva was second to last she jumped and was followed by Thenvel but the Sangheili didn't make it. A tentacle like thing shot out of the air lock and grabbed his foot. The thing yanked the poor elite back into the hellish nightmare; it only took a few seconds before Hudson's HUD read another flat line.

"Jack gets us back to the Mason now!" Hudson said. The tentacle shot back out and tried to grab the drop ship but Shepherd drew his shotgun and blasted it. The troop bay hatch closed and the cabin reestablished. Hudson slumped down to the floor; he pulled his commando helmet off.

"Did we get what we came for?" Narema asked.

"Yeah, a name" Hudson said "Nithlo"

March 21st 2124 SMT 3232/ Tranak/ Covgran city:

John stood pressed against a wall of a wrecked building on the first floor. The Turian counter assault had been going on since they had taken the position, but the fight had expanded to now a battle zone of four square miles and Sierra squad was still on the very for front of it. Both sides refused to back down from the fight, and neither one had made progress. The squad had taken cover in building that they could tell at one point was a restaurant of some sort. The Turians outside of the building had kept firing, John glanced around the edge of the hole in the wall, and the Turian troops had yet to spot the squad. John and his team were part of flanking devour that consisted of them, and three platoons of ODST rangers. The group had taken cover and waited for the signal, the Turians had around four tanks that were raining hell on the troops and were unreachable by an airstrike due to the triple a cover and that are what the flanking maneuver was trying to take out. The Turians out side the building were moving up to attack the frontline. A crash echoed through the building, Johns head snapped back and saw Damon frozen in place; a broken vase was on the ground. A Turian solider looked over and motioned for one of his comrades to follow him. The aliens walked towards the store, John was sweating under his helmet. _Just turn and go away_ he thought but the Turians walked up to the hole in the wall. Jason leveled his BR57 at one of the aliens head from behind a counter; the Turian couldn't see them due to the dark of the night outside.

John nodded and Jason fired, the burst of round smashed into the Turians skull, the other one was killed as Damon fired the under slung shotgun into him. The street suddenly erupted in gunfire as the spartans and rangers activated their ambush on the Turians. The aliens had no clue what was going on as the one hundred UNSC troops suddenly opened fire. John leaned out of cover and started to put bursts into Turians as the scrambled for cover. The sound of rocker launchers going off joined the fray. The column of Turian troops was caught in a cross fire from hell. The ambush lasted only a few minutes, the rangers and spartan squad left the cover of the buildings and then began to push up the street, their cover blown.

John led them up the side street and toward the triple a tanks at the end of the street. The Turians had set up gun implements and even had two of their tanks guarding the triple A. John slid into cover behind as a tank shell rocketed over his head, he glanced over the edge of the over turned car and saw a Turian running for cover he quickly snapped up and dropped the alien.

"Jason move bravo up the left with the second ranger battalion!" John said. His fire team followed him as he broke cover and ran foreword. The Turians machine gun emplacements tried to bring him down but a grenade from Roberts's launcher exploded the corner of the building that the gun was set up in. The Rangers pushed up the right and John saw the two platoons reach the building that flanked the triple a tanks in the street on the right.  
"Move up!" John said as a tank shell exploded near by. The five spartans rushed foreword, John jumped onto the tank and ripped its hatch off and dropped a frag grenade into it and kept running. The tank exploded the other one was distracted by Jason's team as the y rushed towards the triple a tanks. A rack of rockets got hit and exploded as Jason ran past. The spartan was thrown over fifty feet and hit the ground, John ran over to his brother.

"Jason!" John yelled. The remaining Turians had taken cover by the triple A and fired at John as he ran at them. Damon and Carrero roared and charged the Turians, the aliens eyes widened as the other spartans rushed them not letting up in fire. John fired his rifle till it was empty; a few Turians were killed by the onslaught. John didn't drop his rifle as he was trained to but whipped it at a Turian who was knocked off his feet by the force of the hit. John drew his pistol; the other spartans in his squad had all followed his example and charged the remaining Turians in the street. John leapt over cover and saw a Turian that was trying to crawl away its leg was dangling and useless form a round that had passed through its knee. John gave into his anger and raised his foot and crushed the alien under his boot.

"Boss, all tangos down" Yazid said.

"Get the charges set!" John yelled and ran back to his brother. The second tank was a smoking mess like the first from when Angelica had used planted a grenade in it. John crouched down by Jason; the Spartan's operator had a massive area of its visor gone. John pulled the helmet off. The left side of Jason's Face had massive burns and bits of his visor in it, a piece had pierced his left eye. Jason was still breathing; his hand went to grab his rifle.

"Jason talks to me!" John yelled.

"Ho..How bad is it?" Jason coughed a bit of blood came up. John glanced over him, bits of metal had stuck into the stomach area of his armor.

"Not bad" John lied "Angelica!"

The female spartan was all ready there and she quickly set to work on Jason. John stood, the noise of the firefights from in the building had gone quite and the rangers came out into the street.

"HQ, this is Sierra 1" John said "Triple A is neutralized and we need immediate evac"

"Roger that evac in route, hold tight"

The ODST ranger who had been placed in charge of the three platoons walked over.

"Major"

"Yes LT?" John said.

"Building secure, let's hunker down in there till evac arrives"

"Good plan, get going" John said. He walked back over to Jason and Angelica. He crouched down and placed a hand on the medics shoulder.

"How is he doing?"

"He is stable but if we don't get him to a field hospital I don't think he will make more then a few more hours"

"Come on Jason hold on, you got this…" John said to his brother. He took has hand and held onto him till the roar of pelican engines reached his ears.

**So, there you go chapter seven hope it was to your liking. Also I was wondering if you guys would like a codex or something like one on my profile, yes I know earttheking has one and I like the idea. So if you want one tell me in a review or PM .As always please review and just a random off topic note, any one else notice its like viva la revolution month? Egypt and Bahrain riots and everything.**


	8. Long nights in the rain

**So, I only got five reviews for chapter seven last go around but reviews for other chapters. Two more favorites, so this story is going really well. So, here you go please enjoy chapter eight. **

The citadel (March 26th 3232 0948 SMT by UNSC standards):

Liara T'Soni walked through the wards on the citadel; she had here books in hand for her classes at the university. She walked past a group of Turians who where standing near one of the news screens, she really wasn't interested in what was going on but then something peeked her over active curiosity and she walked back over.

"Today we received news of a deliberate and brutal attack on the Turian colony of Tranak, from what we can tell the attack was by an unknown enemy. We have video clips from the planet, be warned the images are quite disturbing and graphic" the news anchor said. Liara looked at the screen, the video was from an orbital satellite, and a Turian dreadnaught was distinguishable from the rest of the fleet. Out of apparently no where the ship seemed to explode as if it was hit by a massive meteor, the other ships turned to fire and they quickly scrambled the satellite rotated till a fleet of massive warships came into view, the Turian frigates scrambled to get in close with the ships. The massive crafts launched what looked like glowing blue orbs at the frigates, some of the ships where hit by more then one and got reduced to vapor. The Bystanders now had gathered and the large crowd was making Liara nervous, she was not exactly a social butterfly.

"What just happened? They took out a dreadnaught with one hit!" a Turian said. The anchor, a young asari appeared and continued with the report.

"The unknown enemy landed its ground forces in Covgran city and has been pushing in to capture the capitol for the last two days" The asari said "a reported stalemate lasted for only a few hours before the invaders offensive continued. Please pray for the brave Turian solders" the asari said "hang on we just received some more video form the colony" the asari looked at something of screen. "We can't show that" she gave a shocked face to some one out of view.

"What do you mean we are ordered to play it? By whom?" she said. The asari shock here head "ladies and gentlemen the footage you are about to see is brutal but the Turian councilor wants us to know what sort of monsters we face"

Liara and the crowd waited with baited breath as the video played, a group of Turians could be seen in cover, and shooting at what they assumed was the enemy. They would finally get to see what these aliens looked like. The video panned out a bit as an explosion resonated, from the left of the screen eight large fully armored figures ran into screen. They were tall, the weapons in their hands blazed to life as the armored figures charged the Turians the enemy solider resembled batarians in their shape, however the armor they wore completely incased them so nothing else was discernable. The Turians fired but were killed quickly as what ever the invaders weapons fired tore through the kinetic barriers of the Turians. Liara watched as one of the wound troops tried to crawl to hide from the invaders. She couldn't watch as one of the armored figures, it had black and gold armor, raised its foot. The crunching sound and the crowds horrified shocks confirmed what Liara knew was going to happen. She quickly turned and walked away, a tear ran down her face. She still heard some of the other people who where watching the news.

"What sort of being does that?"

"My brother is stationed on Tranak! I hope he is okay" a c-sec officer said. On the screen the Turian Councilor Trevnor came on to address the public.

"My Fellow Turians, and council races I am here to let you all know that this brutal and violent attack on our colonies in the Tranak system by these unknown hostiles" the councilor began.

Tranak Military Head Quarters, (March 26th 3232 1319 SMT):

Trexo paced around the war room, he couldn't believe how hard they where getting hit by the humans. The scar on his face from where he had ripped of one of his plates and used it as a knife itched a little, he reached up and scratched it. He was frantic; the humans had pushed five miles into the city from its west side. One of the other commands personal called him over.

"Sir, we got Venkran Artirus on the comm.'s" the communication operator. Trexo walked over and took the head set from the other Turian.

"Go ahead sergeant" Trexo said. The Turian commander could here the roar of gunfire in the background.

"Sir, the humans are pushing hard near the spaceport, we need reinforcements!" Arteries said "we need more men!"

"Hang on, ill see what I can send you" Trexo said before glancing back at the battle map "Arteries, the only men I can send are twenty minutes away" Trexo said "can you hold that long?"

"I think so, but you better be sending a lot of troops!" Arteries said as a loud explosion resonated.

"Arteries come in!" Trexo yelled through the headset. The sound of the microphone on the other end being jostled around came through the speaker before the turian's voice came back through. The solider was coughing as he spoke, Trexo could tell that he was hit.

"Mother fuckers just hit us with an airstrike" Arteries said "We can still hold out, just get those men over here!"

"Sergeant are you hit?" Trexo asked the Turian.

"Yeah, a little it's no…oh shit"

"Talk to me Artuerius!" the comm. line was soundly filled with more gunfire, small explosions and screaming.

"They sent a gunship!" Artuerius said "we need a frigate down here, as…" the Turian sergeant didn't get to finish as a 30mm round tore through his upper body, but Trexo didn't know that he just heard the Turian gurgle before the comm. line went static. Trexo slammed his fist down on the console.

"Damn it!" Trexo snapped his attention to the comm. operator "Get me some one at that spaceport now!"

"Yes, sir" the operator stammered. Trexo shook his head and walked over to the battle map and examined the field. He saw the unit labeled near the spaceport was the fifth division. Other units around the city where all trying to hold but the battle map told him all he need to know they were losing the city. The fleet over head was nearly demolished and had retreated back to the other side of the planet. Trexo zoomed out and looked for any sort of resource he could use, from what he could tell most of the other cities and military bases were either losing or all ready lost.

"We haft to retreat, we can't hold this planet" Trexo said aloud.

"Sir, I have the highest ranking person I could find" the comm. operator said. Trexo took the head set again.

"Go ahead"

"Sir, this is corporal Vakarian!" the corporal said "I got a gunship tearing my men up out here and those fucking walking tanks are hitting us hard!"

"Sargent listen to me; get your ass out of there. Get every one you can and get out of the city, make sure to take any civvies with you" Trexo said "get to Panvlin and start loading everyone onto transports and get off world"

"Sir, yes sir" the corporal said.

"Get me General Nithlo now" Trexo said.

The Citadel, Trevnor's office (March 26th 3232 1953 SMT):

Trevnor looked out of his office at the citadel, a sly smile graced his face as he swirled his drink around in his hand. He took a sip and heard the comm. console on his desk ring. He walked over and hit the activation button and Nithlo appeared on screen. The Turian general looked slightly worried; Trevnor could tell something was wrong.

"Trevnor we got a problem" Nithlo said "the research station has gone dark, I fear the worst"

"Then destroy it, I want no evidence of it" Trevnor said "you may be my comrade in this endeavor but if the council finds out we unleashed the Necron virus as a weapon then there will be some serious hell to pay and ill pin it on you"

"I under stand, also Tranak is falling to the humans" Nithlo said "Trexo has managed to hold out for a good long time but he just ordered a retreat"

"This is the same man you wish to include in our plan?" Trevnor said.

"Yes, he is a very competent commander and he would understand our reasons im a sure" Nithlo said "he is quite a patriot"

"Good, if you deem him valuable then I trust your judgment Nithlo, now if you will excuse me I have a meeting with the rest of the council discussing our new found enemy"

Trevnor said hanging up the call and walked to the door. Trevnor walked down the hall and past the two C-sec officers guarding the door to the council's private meeting room. The guards snapped to attention and opened the door as he walked up.

"Thank you"

Trevnor saw the other two councilors seated in the room and a host of generals and admirals form all the races present, a Salarians STG captain stood at the front of the room. Trevnor sat himself next to the Asari councilor and waited for the STG captain to begin.

"Well, now that you are here councilor let us begin" the Salarians said "As you know we where dispatched to learn everything we could and report back, we got what we could but had to leave due to Covgran being over run" the captain hit a button and a picture of a human marine appeared on the screen "these are their most basic infantry, they are called marines. They are well trained and work well in groups, they have shields that are stronger than kinetic barriers and use a different method of blocking rounds. Then we move up their unit hierarchy to the ODST and ODST rangers, these guys are some of the most dangerous combatant we will ever face"

"What makes them so dangerous, Captain? They use the same gear as the marine it appears besides a fully sealed suit" the Asari councilor said.

"They are dangerous because they are better trained then the merc groups in the terminus and they use a pod of sorts to drop from a space craft" the captain sighed "it makes it tough when you have a battalion of enemy troops appear from no where essentially"

"So they can have a battalion of men dropped in?" the Salarians councilor said.

"Yes, but they don't compare to the next group of solders that the UNSC uses" the picture switched to the infamous fully armored human, an image that came to symbolize the enemy and death "Spartans, these guys make Krogan look like space cows"

"What?" the asari said.

"They are strong enough to flip vehicles, some of the Turians report seeing them punch through a wall. In terms of speed they can run at nearly 60kph and have enough agility even in that armor to still be effective" the captain hit the screen and it went black.

"Just how effective are these spartans?" a batarian commander asked.

"They are better trained than the asari commandos, can take as much punishment as a Krogan warlord, and are unmatched in speed" the captain said.

"So, let me get this straight if we face them on the ground we won't win" a Turian general said "just what sort of force are we dealing with here?"

"If this leads to a total war then it will cost more lives, credits, and resources than the rachni wars in a fifth of the time"

Trevnor got up and faced the assembled leaders, his face was worried but that was on the outside.

"Then let them come, we have faced down the Rachni and the Krogan" Trevnor said "these humans think that they can get away with this and we will not let them go unopposed. If they want war they got one"

March31st 1532 3232, UNSC Field hospital/ Tranak:

Jason sat on the edge of the cot that he was set up on; his deployment box had been dropped of to him so he had his gear. He had been cleared for duty and right now he was relaxing till his squad came back. Julie was set up next to him and she was reading a book, pride and prejudice. Jason reached into the box and pulled out a mirror and looked at his reflection, he reached up and felt the now massive scar on his left cheek. The spartan felt the bandage over his eye, it was coming of today. The doctors couldn't save his eye and the optic nerve was too damaged to attach a flash cloned eye or a prostatic one.

"Sorry about your eye Jason" Julie said.

"It's fine, luckily I have a spare" Jason said putting the mirror down. Just then the sound of the heavy foot steps of spartans reached his ears. Jason looked up and saw the rest of the squad walking over. John walked up to his brother and crouched down; his armor was damaged and scrapped like the rest off the squad. Johns face was unshaven and dirty.

"Hey bro how you doing?" John said.

"Good, me and Julie just been hanging out here" Jason said.

"Well, not for much longer, Julie how's the head?" Maria asked as she pulled her scour helmet off. Julie put the book down and looked up at her spotter.

"Good, got a clean bill of health and ready to go" Julie said. John stood up and looked at the female spartan.

"Good, then get geared up solders, we are moving out at 0120" John said "ill give you the brief once your in armor" Jason groaned a bit as he stood up and headed for the front of the tent where the door was, Julie was right behind him as they head to the armory.

The two walked into the armory, it was an elephant that was modified with an extended bay, and the armory master sat behind a desk and looked up as the two walked in.

"All right hand me your dog tags and go ahead and hop in to the gear up machine" the master said.

Jason reached up and took his tags of and handed them to the master. Jason stepped in to the large metal cylinder. John watched as the master slid his armor tag in to the slot and the front closed. The machine fired up and Jason could here the crate that housed his armor when he wasn't wearing it slid into the receiver. The machine took the armor pieces and started the process.

Jason stepped out of the machine, his armor now incased him and he routed his shoulders in place, it felt good to be back in the armor. He turned to the dispenser that held his helmet and saw it wasn't his usual operator helmet.

"Hey, this isn't my helmet" Jason said as he looked at it, It was a commando helmet much like his brothers.

"Yeah, your visor was completely destroyed so you will haft to make due with this one" the master said. Jason sighed and placed the helmet on his head and he and Julie walked out of the armory.

April 1st 3232, 0223 SMT/ Tranak/Nine Kilometers outside of Pavilion:

Julie was lying prone on the edge of a cliff, next to him was her spotter Maria; the two spartans watched a Turian outpost. Their NV system let them see the enemy troops as they patrolled around the buildings, the two snipers waited patently for the go order. The operation was quite simple, the sniper teams from all the spartan squads in E company along with the ODST rangers where to move along the roads to the city from all sides under cover of night and take out the Turian outposts. They were also to put charges on any triple A and then when the orders came destroy the guns so the rest of the company could use the M555 to fast strike in and cut the other Turians off from their escape route. The Turians had pulled back to Pavilion in an attempt to make it off world and retreat but command wanted to push their advantage.

"Green light"

"Roger command" Julie said and sighted down with her rifle at the Turians comm. relay dish and fired the spartan rifle at it. The massive dish was absolutely wreaked by the massive round.

"Comm.'s are down sergeant Zuberer, move in" Julie said.

"Roger that" Julie watched as the twenty IF tags near the base moved in. The ODST rangers had made their way quietly to the outpost; they had suppressed weapons like the spartans did. The Turians were scrambling as Julie took aim at a target, she felt her heartbeat and squeezed in between the beats and another Turian hit the dirt. The silent pop of her spotter's rifle next to her meant another Turian was killed.

"Let's move up" Julie said, she stood up to a crouch and slung the massive spartan rifle on her back and drew her SMG.

"Shit Julie Turian patrol right below us on the ledge" Maria said as she peeked over the edge.

"Contact unavoidable, cloak up" Julie said and waited on the edge. She hopped down and slid on the high angle cliff face, it was around eighty degrees in slope, and headed straight for a Turian in the back of the patrol. Maria was doing the same, the aliens looked up and didn't see the spartan but rather falling rocks due to the cloak that the spartans had. Julie landed on the Turian, crushing him she quickly ran foreword and stabbed another one of the aliens. Maria landed next to a Turian and put him in a headlock and twisted hard breaking the alien's neck. The cloak that they had used was still not perfect and they appeared blurry but slightly transparent as they moved to fast for the generator to keep up. The Turians started to fire but the remaining five got mowed down by SMG fire and Maria's knife work. The two spartans then started towards their next objective, a triple A gun nearby. They quickly were back under the cover of the forest as they headed out.

"That was nicely done" Julie said as the two jogged through the forest.

"Lt, this is Sargent Owen"

"go ahead" Maria said.

"We got Turian gunships over head, they know something's not right" Owen said "we just took out one of their major comm. stations"

"Roger that, all sniper teams come acknowledge do not fire on the gunships" Julie said.

"Acknowledged, Alpha 9 and 10 moving up to sniper position four overmatch on valley two Charlie in three minutes"

Julie held up her hand as the sound of gunships engines reached her ears, she quickly went prone and held as still as possible. Maria did the same as the craft soared overhead its spotlight going back and forth.

"stay low" Julie said as they slung along the ground. The sound of engines on the road drew Julies attention, she glanced over and saw a tank driving along the road, an around fifty Turian solders.

"Shit, Sargent you have incoming get out of there"

"Roger that, we finished up here anyway it's a ghost town"

"Get ready to set up and ambush in fifteen minutes at your position we got a tank and fifty plus troops headed to that small town that has the triple A battery in it, they will pass right through your objective" Julie said "Alpha nine and ten come in"

"go ahead"

"Objective Charlie four has a tank headed its way get eyes on and wait for a signal to take it down" Maria said "all sniper teams in overmatch positions of valley two Charlie report in"

"Sigma team has eyes on the enemy column"

"Delta and Foxtrot same"

"ODST ranger team gamma in position for ambush" Sargent Zuberer said. Julie checked her GPS; the ODST team was seven minutes from their current position.

"Same for ODST ranger team bravo" Sargent Owen said.

"Sierra team is fallowing the enemy armor" Julie said "hit time in seven"

The two spartan snipers snuck along in the tree line as the Turians marched toward the triple A battery. Julie was worried about this objective if it went loud the mission would go from hard to near impossible in mere minutes of they where discovered.

"Sierra nine what about those gunships? We take that tank out and they will certainly know something is wrong" Delta nine said.

"I know, the column is passing through an outpost that ODST gamma team ghosted four minutes ago that's the ambush zone" Julie said "As soon as the tank is out im going to kill the breaker and we will push the tank under cover, don't make it explode"

Julie and Maria ran into the outpost from the left side and into a building where the rangers had taken cover; Sargent Zuberer was near one of the windows watching the road.

"Sargent friendlies coming in back door" Maria said. The ODST rangers at the door opened it and came out made a small perimeter as the two spartans ran inside the building. The ODSTs collapsed back inside making sure to close the door behind them, just as they did the sound of a gunship overhead hit every ones ears and they backed away from the windows. The ODSTs had silenced MA37s and pistols a few had rocket launchers and grenade launchers incase things got out of hand.

"Sargent" Julie said as she took cover near the ranger at the window.

"Lt" the ODST whispered.

"Here is the plan as soon as this ambush is over cut the power at the breaker and help me and Maria push that tank out of the road and under cover" Julie said "have all the others drag the bodies back in and as soon as the we finish hit the breaker again and lets get out of here"

"Understood, you get all that Bill?" Zuberer said.

"Yeah, ill send one of my guys to the breaker now" Owen said. Julie got ready as the sound of the tank drew closer to the hiding troops. The vehicle came into view, its white and black surface reflected a good deal of the light, the tank came to a halt in the center of the outpost. The Turians stopped and fanned out around the tank as the one who was obviously the leader started to talk through his headset to its commander. Julie held up her hand and made a fist, the ODST rangers all opened fire. The suppressed weapons where near whisper quiet and the Turians scrambled but between the rangers and the snipers that had positions of overmatch on them the Turians where quickly put down save for about six that made it into a small building near the front of the outpost.

"Cut the lights" Julie ordered and the entire place went dark, instantly the ODST and spartans NV sprang to life. Four rangers headed to the building where the strays had taken cover while the rest headed for bodies and some with the two spartans to the tank.

The Turians in the building where blinded by a flash bang and quickly put down by the rangers. Julie and Maria and around eight of the forty rangers that where with them pushed the tank as best they could towards a motor pool, its wheels groaned as they got it going and under the roof. Julie could see four holes in one side and one in the turret, they obviously came from the spartan rifles that the snipers had. The two spartans quickly ran back and grabbed as many of the dead Turians and dragged them inside the buildings, The rangers all got back inside.

"Power it back up" Julie said. The group heard a group of gunships fly overhead, they obviously had come to investigate what happened, Julie knew that the Turians knew something was up. They had lost comm. all over the place, there was no signs of life at the outpost and a tank had disappeared from the grid so to speak.

"As soon as those gunships pass everyone out of the out post and rendezvous in three minutes half click up the road to the triple A battery" Julie ordered. The craft flew overhead and the two spartan followed by twenty rangers left the outpost and headed back into the safety of the trees cover.

"Sargent good work" Julie said as they walked along staying low as possible.

"Not to bad yourself spartan" sergeant Zuberer said. Julie scoffed and kept on skulking foreword. They arrived at the set rally point, Julie gave the rangers a quick dash of hand signals and they set up a perimeter making sure to watch the road. The entire group went prone, the darkness of the night from its overcast sky and the forests natural cover. Just then the a loud clap of thunder filled the valley they where operating in and the clouds opened up into a down pour, rain drops splashed on the metal plates of the spartans armor as she lay in the mud waiting for the other rangers.

"Sierra nine, those gunships landed men. They know we are in the valley for sure now"

"Roger that Alpha nine, keep us covered we are going to take down the battery"

"understood, The other groups are reporting objectives complete this is the last battery around the city"

"Roger that it's as good as gone"

Julie looked up and twenty IF tags ran onto screen across the road, the other ranger group was here.

"Okay, the batteries are in a small town" Julie began "hostile count is around one hundred, no need for stealth this is the last objective before you guys are extracted so feel free to use explosives. When those gunships come take them out overmatch"

"once the charges are set ranger teams head to the extraction point and all spartans head for the LZ and mark it for M555 landing" Maria said "now let's move"

The forty two human troops moved through the brush once again stealthily as possible, the gunships could be heard as they flew overhead but the group kept moving.

"Sierra nine, the town is full of activity now they know that you are coming"

"Roger, start sniping really make them go crazy" Julie said.

"Acknowledged"

Julie crouched in the tree line out side the edge of the town she could see into the center circle of the town through a street. The village was arranged in a radial fashion and had a good amount of homes and shops mostly two story buildings. She could see dead Turians all ready form the snipers, she wasn't worried about them getting their position since the spartan rifles range truly prevented that from happening.

"Sargent Zuberer I want you to push in this side with us, Owen split your team and pincer them from either side" Julie said "Move" The spartans and ODST ran foreword and into the village Turians in the buildings didn't notice them till a few of them where dropped then all hell broke loose. Julie vaulted through a window and kicked a Turian in its chest and gave the other four in the room bursts with her SMG. The aliens hit the ground, and the spartan quickly took cover as the Turians in the center of the town outside started to pour fire onto the building. The rangers had by now all taken positions inside the buildings, the Turians were to concentrate on the spartans and rangers form Zuberer's team to notice Owen's rangers flanking them. More gunfire entered the orchestra of destruction as the Turians fought as hard as they could but they had been out maneuvered.

"Move up!" Julie ordered. The twenty two UNSC troops stormed out of the buildings and charged the Turians who had taken cover behind the triple A tanks in the center of the town's center. Julie saw three Turians on a roof; one had a rocket launcher aimed for the rangers. She snapped her SMGs muzzle to them and let the lead fly, Maria also saw the targets and two of them dropped dead but they managed to fire a rocket. Seven of the rangers went flying but the Turian who fired the explosive was knocked off the roof by a spartan rifles round. Julie smiled at that but the seven men caught in the blast made the victory bitter sweet. The remaining Turians behind the tank got killed by the ranger fairly quickly; most of them had retreated in to the buildings on the other side of the town. One of the gunships from earlier came in low and stiffed the ground, another fallowed but its cockpit exploded as a sniper fired a 30mm round into the pilot. The craft smashed into the building where the remaining Turians had taken cover and exploded in a blinding flash. The other two gunships exploded as the sniper concentrated fire on them, the wreckage of the craft crashed into the woods below. Julie went over to the triple A tank and placed a charge on it and linked the detonator with the device.

"Sargent the charge is set, call in for Evac" Maria said the two ranger sergeants walked over to them.

"Been good fighting next to you two" Zuberer said.

"Catch you on the other side, good hunting" Owen said holding his hand out, the two spartans and ODST shook hands and the two spartans headed out.

"Command this is Sierra nine, objectives complete moving to LZ" Julie said.

"Roger that, the rest of E company is loading into the M555's now"

**So, there you go chapter eight short but not to bad. Please review.**


	9. Hollow victory

**Albright, seven reviews for the last chapter. Hopefully this one won't bore anyone and to ****, merry Christmas the spartan laser gets fired this chapter. Also there is a poll at my profile page asking who your favorite three characters are, it would really cool if you would vote because I am curious to see who everyone likes.**

April 1st 3232, 0303 SMT/ Tranak/ UNSC base Charlie in Covgran city:

Jason walked from the barracks into the pouring rain outside; the darkness of the night was undone by the lights that illuminated the landing pad that was setup in UNSC main base that had been set up at a park. The barracks was a school building that they had converted rather quickly and the large park in the back was leveled out and now served as a landing field for the Falcons, Pelicans and the M555 that had just landed. There where other base around the city but the spartan company operated out of here along with a company of rangers and three marine companies.

The group was loaded up with heavy weapons, Jason extra battery cells for the MARK V anti-material DEW or Spartan Laser. The SL was carried by Damon, Robert had double the grenades he carried, and Yazid carried charges.

The rest of the squad followed behind him, they where fully armed and ready to go as they walked towards the M555. The M555 was a very specialized air craft that was designed to be used by spartans and ODST to get into an area quickly with out dropping form orbit. It had many nicknames but it was often referred to as the "Puck Wagon" and many troops described it as the ultimate roller coaster. The Craft resembled a Saber fighter but was much longer and had landing gear so the drop capsules could be accessed. The under side of the craft had ten slots that held a drop capsule, a smaller version of the HEV pod and they where open for the awaiting spartans. Jason heard Carrero gulp, he didn't like using them but he would often get over it. The reason he didn't like them is that they often traveled at near mach 2 and could move like the Saber fight Jet that they resembled. The spartans reached the craft and they headed towards the open drop capsules.

"All right load up" John said.

"I hate this thing" Carrero said as he clambered into the capsule. Jason scoffed and looked into his capsule. The small pod had very little in the way of comfort; the shaped rest was about it. The spartan stepped onto the step up ramp and fell into the coffin like pod. The way they where loaded into the craft had them at an angle from the bottom of the craft towards the back and where mounted on to a drop ramp. Jason wriggled around a bit in the pod and got a little more comfortable and watched the hatch close over the capsule from the top. The spartan felt the magnates that help him in place activate and he was no longer able to move around at all. The pod slid up the ramp and then swung up and into the belly of the craft. The bay was dark and Jason could only see black but the small read light that had been installed light up and he looked around a bit and saw his brother in the pod next to him.

"Remember the first time we ever took on of these things into battle?" Jason said.

"Yeah, the simulator does not even compare" Angel said "I remember Damon eating too much and puking as soon as we hit the ground"

"Yeah, yeah" Damon said. Carrero groaned as they heard the engines roar to life and then the pilot's voice came over the comms.

"This is your captain speaking" the pilot said "welcome to the crazy train. Today we will be landing in the lovely city of Pavilion, expect rain and lots of gunfire"

"Really? I would I have ever guessed that?" Jack said.

"And it looks we have a smart ass on board" the pilot said.

"All right stow that crap" John said "pilot just get us there in one piece"

The pilot didn't answer but Jason suddenly felt his light as the craft jumped into the air as its VTOL jets engaged and it ascended into the sky. The craft hovered for a second before its main drive engines kicked in and it rocketed of with twenty three others behind it as the entire Spartan E company had loaded up and readied for the final assault on Tranak.

Turian HQ in Pavilion space port (April 1st 0312 SMT 3232):

Trexo stood in the small room in a command center, he watched as another ship loaded up with civilians left for the safety of space and he prayed it would make it to the relay and safety. He hoped that his men could hold out much longer than they had been, for the most part the units he had been given where full of new solders. Most of them had never seen a firefight and while well trained they also had been trained to have support from the fleet and other ground assets but they where in short supply. The Turian military had given him little in the way of those ground assists, something about Tranak not being as high priority as Fenvor due to its rich eezo mines. Any fleet support was cut off as the fleet was way to busy trying to keep the humans massive ships at bay and evac personal to get everyone home.

"We can't do this alone, we need the rest of the council races" Trexo said.

The door opened and a Turian walked in, he was a unique race of Turian and had two horns like structures that came of his cheeks, Trexo turned to face the solider. The soldier wore the standard jet black heavy combat armor of the Cabals; he had his weapons slung up on his back.

"Ah, Saran"

"You needed to see me sir?"

"Yes, I have a plan to make sure that despite our lose of this planet we will deal a deadly blow to the enemy" Trexo said "I want to know if you are willing to par take in this mission?"

Saran closed the door and sat down in a chair as Trexo gestured to one on the other side of his temporary desk. Trexo sat down and faced the Cabal trooper; his face was serious and set in stone.

"What I am asking you may mean that you wont make it off this world alive but take as many of these damned humans with you" Trexo said "I would go myself and do it but Nithlo needs me alive"

"What is the mission sir?" Saran said. Trexo sighed, he didn't like the plan he had come up with but it was the best one he had to make sure that the lose was not a total wreck.

"You are to go to the reactor of this city and rig it to explode, and then get out of there" Trexo said.

"That's it?" Saran said "I thought that this would be dangerous"

"Make no mistake Saran, the UNSC are on their way here to capture this city" Trexo said "and the Reactor is on the outskirts, meaning it will be one of the first places that the humans capture"

Saran's face went from a neutral expression, to one of worry.

"Ill need more than my three man team, if we run into a spartan squad we will be killed in no time, as much as it pains me to admit it" Saran said "Ill need more men"

"Then, take the unit under the command of Corporal Vakarian" Trexo said "they managed to hold out a long time before I ordered them to retreat"

"Why didn't they stay?" Saran said.

"Simple, a reaper showed up" Trexo said. The Human gunship had quickly gained infamy as a monster, when one showed up everyone knew it and everyone ran for cover.

"Ill do it" Saran said.

"good hunting solider, get it done" Trexo said standing up, the other Turian did the same and took Trexo's hand and shook "Get back here in one piece if you can, we have lost to man troops all ready to us underestimating them"

Saran nodded and walked from the room and down the hall towards the hanger where the Turians had set up their barracks and Gunships. Saran walked through the doorway and into the hanger bay, he could see the rain pouring down outside and he walked up to a group of Turian troops who were sitting on crates near a gunship. Saran recognized the leader as Garrus; the blue facial markings distinguished him out of the group. Saran saw the other two members of his cabal unit walk over, Nithlus and Tonn.

"Saran, what the commander want?" Tonn said. Saran looked at the two other biotics; he sighed but looked at them.

"We got a mission, there is a chance we won't make it back" Saran said.

"Please, we have faced worst" Nithlus said as he unslung his rifle "so what is the deal?"

"We have to plant a charge on the reactor core and make sure it goes critical, problem is we might get caught in the blast" Saran said "So what's it going to be guys?"

Nithlus and Tonn looked at each other, Tonn shook his head.

"Were in" Tonn said.

"Good, now lets just help we find Garrus's unit as willing" Saran then walked over to the group of Turians. Garrus looked up, Saran couldn't believe that he was about to ask these young solders to join this mission. Garrus was obviously a younger Turian, maybe seventeen, _fresh out of training_ Saran thought.

"Corporal, we need you for this an operation get your team ready and meet us at landing pad four in five" Saran said.

"Yes sir" Garrus said. Saran walked back towards where the other two waited, Nithlus shook his head and Tonn remained passive.

"I don't know why they sent such young units here, some of these kids aren't more than a month out of basic" Nithlus said.

"I know, but this is war and we have a job to do" Saran said "move out"

April 1st 3232, 0328 SMT/ M555 in route to LZ in Pavilion:

Jason had storied up into space as the M555 zoomed towards the landing zone that was marked by Julie and Maria. The spartan could see a slight reflection of himself in his visor, the black eye patch over his left eye made it seem as though there was a hole in his face because of how the reflection looked. The comm. line crackled and he heard Julie's voice over the line.

"Sierra 9 to Sierra 1, the LZ is hot" Julie said.

"Roger that, all right everyone we will be hitting the ground and as soon as he do shits going to hit the fan" John said.

"Well, shit didn't see that coming" Damon said sarcastically. The craft jerked out of no where and the pilot came back on the speaker.

"Hostile fire, evasive maneuvers!"

"Oh Shit" Jason said right before the pilot took the craft into a high banking spiral, the spartans knew it would be one wild ride.

James, the pilot of the craft watched as a rocket tore past the cockpits glass cover. He dived the M555 towards the ground; the LZ was a small green square on the ground. Flak started to fill the air, James rolled to one side as a Flak shell exploded. The aircraft rocked a bit from the blast but no damage, James started the drop approach. Gunfire from the ground flew around him as he twisted the jet around to avoid the shoots. A rocket flew from somewhere on the ground and was locked on to James, the alarms flared.

"Fuck!" James said and dove down between the tall buildings of the city and started to circle back towards the LZ. The rocket exploded as he took the jet close to a skyscraper and he brought the craft over the LZ and hit the drop switch.

Jason saw the red light turn green and clinched his teeth together tight so he didn't bite his tongue when they hit the ground. The ramp dropped and the pod slid out, he was the first one towards the back and had an unobstructed view of the ground below. He saw a tank at the end of the street that was their LZ and troops on the ground set up to take them on. The pod hit the end of the ramp and fell nose first towards the ground. Jason felt the bump as its fin stabilizers deployed, the ground rushed up at him from a thousand feet below. He hit the ground in three seconds and the hatch flew off and he charged out of it, he heard the other pods hit the ground.

"Move to cover!" John yelled. Jason fired his BR57 at the Turians at the end of the street; one took two bursts and hit the floor hard the others managed to get back in cover. Jason slid behind a pillar and stood up, pressed himself against it as the tank fired.

"Robert!" Jason yelled and saw his fire team member dive behind a car "Get swarmer fire on those hostiles!"

Jason snapped around the edge of the pillar and put three more burst into a Turian that was dumb enough to stand up, he dropped like a sack of bricks. His shields flared and broke as a loud shot rang out.

"Sniper!" John yelled over the chaos. A loud boom echoed off the walls of the buildings.

"Not anymore" Julie said. Jason smiled but then he heard Damon's voice over the comm. channel.

"Guys, some one get over here my Pods jammed shut!" Damon said. Jason looked back and saw a closed pod and Damon busy kicking at the hatch. Jason stated to run over but the tank fired, its was surreal as the Pod exploded Jason knew that Damon was dead and he altered his course and slid into cover.

"Damon!" Robert yelled he went to charge at the Turians but Yazid took hold of his shoulder and held him back.

"Well cry later right now we got a Job to do!" John said.

"Stay in cover or your dead to!" Yazid said. Jason was in the middle of the road behind a burning car; he peaked over the edge and saw the enemy. He fired his grenade launcher and the round landed in the middle of a group of Turians, _a few more dead, good _Jason thought.

"Julie takes that thing out!" John yelled to the sniper.

"We can't, no angle!" Maria said. Jason shook his head, he slammed a magazine home and peaked around cover, he could see the tank at the streets end. He activated his grid and locked in coordinates for the tank.

"Sierra two to fire support" Jason said.

"Squad, move up!" John ordered. The seven spartans broker their cover and moved up the street a good fifteen meters, their shields flared as the mass of Turians at the other end of the street fired. Just then a gunship soared into view and its chain gun began to pour fire into the street.

"Get under something!" John yelled to his squad. The spartans moved off the road, their weapons blazed back at the aliens as they gave each other covering fire. The gunship launched a rocket that sent Angelica flying into a wall; she collapsed on the ground but was back on her feet in a second. Jason ran foreword keeping behind the squad as he continued to call in their fire support.

"Roger, Go ahead Sierra two"

"We need Artillery fire at Grid 20-58" Jason said as he popped out form cover gave a few quick bursts of fire and ducked back down.

"Roger, rounds on the way"

Jason cut the connection and broke cover and sprinted to where John was taking cover and slid in next to him.

"Artillery on the way" Jason said to his brother.

"Good, as soon as the salvo stops charge their position and then press foreword!" John ordered "Nine, Ten get down here!"

"Roger that!" Julie said as the two left their hide and headed down to the street. Jason and John both stood and sent rounds down range at the Turians. A few dropped, Johns shields broke after only taking three hits and he snapped back down. Jason pulled the trigger on his under slung grenade launcher; he quickly ducked down as his shield gave out as well.

"Careful some those guys have some sort of specialized ammo!" Jason said as the gunship fired more rockets at the overhanging part of the building that John, Angelica, Robert and Jack where under.

"Move!" John yelled ran through a door the others quickly followed their leader into the building as the overhanging collapsed.

"Get to the second floor!" John ordered. The four spartans ran over to a door that was open and they could see stairs inside, they made a beeline for them.

"Jason!" Robert yelled.

"We are fine hold out a little longer we are making are way to the second floor" Jason said as he jumped onto the stairs leaping half of them in a single bound his fellow solders behind him. As he did he heard the unmistakable sound of the artillery shells smashing into the ground. Jason reached the top and saw the door closed, he didn't stop or hesitate he dropped his shoulder and charged on through. The other spartans followed as they ran full tilt at nearly thirty miles an hour and jumped from the wreaked balcony and into the middle of the Turian position. The tank was wrecked by the shells, a good deal of the Turians where dead but at least ten of the twenty five at the end of the street lay broken. Jason landed on one of the survivors crushing him; a Turian went to turn his gun on the spartan but was downed by a burst of fire from John. The Spartans had the element of surprise and the Turians couldn't react quick enough as the spartans reaction time kicked in and they seemed to run on overdrive, something that was nicknamed "spartan time". Jason whipped his rifle around fired two bursts into a Turian that had primed a grenade and fired a single three round burst into the explosive and blew the Turians hand off. The other seven Turians where dropped by the spartans quickly, A few of the spartans shields had been dropped. John looked down and saw some blood running down his forearm, a round had entered above his forearm bracer. The blood wasn't a large stream, John didn't feel it. They quickly got behind cover as fire powered on to their position the gunship that had vacated the area to avoid being hit by an artillery shell returned. The gunship whipped around and its chain gun started to spit out rounds, they pinged of the wreaked tank and the many destroyed civilian vehicles that the spartans had taken cover behind.

"Shit, that thing's back!" Angelica yelled as she dived under a car as it took aim at her.

"Fuck!" Jack yelled "Damon had the laser!"

The gunship had the spartans pinned down; the Turians in building keep taking potshots at the spartans. Jason looked around the edge of his cover and saw the gunship fire a rocket barrage nearby at John; the spartan dived out of the way as they exploded behind him. Jason moved back behind cover but something caught his eye, he saw the spartan laser by some miracle was undamaged and laying seventy five yard back down the street. Jason looked to his left as Robert stood up and quickly fired a grenade and duck down as the gunships chain gun strafed the car.

"Why won't it go higher up and actually shoot us instead of just pinning us down!" Robert said.

"Stop complaining!" Jason said "I would rather not die today!"

Jason took a few quick breaths gripped his rifle tight, took one deep breath before yelling to the entire squad "Cover me!" Jason sprang out from behind the cover of the burning wreak of a car and sprinted towards the spartan laser, his feet dug a bit into the ground as he drove his feet as hard as he could. Jason accelerated as fast as he could he heard the gunship turn and start to chase him down, it was right behind the sprinting spartan. Jason slung his rifle quickly and pumped his arms faster and felt himself accelerate more, the laser was only thirty yards away now. The rounds from the gunships chain gun hit all around Jason, some came to close but Jason sprinted on. Jason heard the sound of the gunships rockets firing, the laser was seven yards away and he dove for it. The spartan lunched from the ground as the rockets exploded only a few feet behind him. Jason hit the ground, his hand wrapped itself around the weapons grip and he rolled, twisting as he did so he faced back down the street. He came up with his back leg bent and his front extended, his momentum made him slid as the gunship came bearing down on him. Jason sighted the spartan laser and pulled the trigger; luckily the MK V didn't have a charge time but had to cool after each shoot. The gunship exploded as the massive red beam punched through it, the wreckage came rocketing at Jason. Jason ducked and the debris landed behind him. He slung the laser up and drew his rifle, he sighted on the Turians on the roof who were distracted by the Spartans in the street below, and he fired two bursts into the aliens each, killing two before they dove for cover. Jason grabbed the laser and fired at the aliens on the roof, the weapon wreaked the railing they were behind and Robert fired a grenade on to the roof. The round exploded and killed the remaining hostiles.

"Command this is Sierra 1" John said over the network.

"Go ahead Sierra 1"

"I have a man down, position secure moving to rendouv with Hotel, Gulf, and Echo squads"

"Roger that, link up and hold position. Wait for reinforcement before moving on the spaceport"

"Understood, Sierra 1 out" John said before yelling to Jason "Get over here you crazy bastard!"

(April 1st 3232 0341 SMT) Pavilion/ Gunship in route to Pavilion power reactor:

Garrus looked out at the city; his helmet protected his eyes from the rain as the Gunship speed through the air towards the objective. The city was in flames everywhere Garrus looked he saw smoke, burning fires and the noise of thousands of gunshots filled the air.

Garrus could see the mass amounts of his fellow troops slowly pulling back towards the spaceport, never breaking contact completely. The humans pushed on, Garrus watched as dropships landed their troops.

The Turian was shaking in his boots latterly; they had been briefed on the mission and knew that it was near suicide. He was only seventeen, a year out of basic and he had only been in some small level skirmishes with pirates and raiders, this battle took his combat experience to a whole new level. Garrus felt the hand of one of his good friends, Joram rest on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't worry, we will make it out before the reactor goes off" Joram said.

"I can't help but worry" Garrus said. He turned and faced his friends, his fellow soldiers, they all looked nervous some fidgeted with their weapons, others Garrus could see shaking. The gunship started its descent knocking Garrus off balance a bit; he reached up and grabbed a handle in the troop bay. The gunship housed six men; there was a flight of five head towards the reactor.

"We are starting our approach, moderate hostile presence detected" Saran said "they haven seen us yet"

The five gunships landed on the roof of the reactor building and Garrus dropped the small ramp on the back. He stepped off, the other five Turians followed him everyone scanned the area for any hostiles. Saran ran over to a door that lead into the building, he opened it quietly and signaled for the rest of the Turians to follow. The twenty six men followed his orders and they entered the building, Saran checked around once again and closed the door behind them. Garrus was at the front of the group, he kept his rifle sighted as they walked down the stairs.

"These stairs wont lead down to the reactor control room" Chellick said as he checked a map of the reactor from the Nav pad on his wrist "We have to exit here and head down the hall to the left, there is an elevator we can use to reach the control room"

"Ok, go in silently" Saran said. Garrus nodded and activated the door walked slowly out of the door staying low. He silently raced across the room and took cover the other Turians followed him out and quickly dropped behind cover. Garrus looked down the hall and saw ten marines at the end of the hall, they where talking. Garrus signaled the other Turians that there were hostiles at the end of the hall, the troops readied their rifles. Saran readied a singularity and then sent the biotic attack at the enemy marines. The hallway erupted in gunfire, four of the marines had become airborne and died quickly under fire. Garrus sighted down on a human solider and fired, the man's shields broke and Garrus watched him crumble.

"Move up!" Garrus ordered and the Turian troops moved up as Nithlus used a biotic charged and knocked a marine into the wall, the human slid down the wall in a bloody heap. The Turian troops fired on the humans as the fired at Nithlus and quickly killed them.

"Move to the elevator" Saran said as he looked back and saw that three of the men that had been killed. The Turians rounded a corner; Garrus quickly scanned the hall and didn't see any hostiles. The elevator was nearby and Saran went over to it and opened the door to the lift. He checked it over quickly and hit the one of the floor buttons. The elevator didn't do anything; Saran sighed and stepped back out. The noise of a firefight outside drew his attention and the noise of gunfire from the reactor building below them.

"The lifts out and judging by that noise" Saran said as he swung his rifle into his hands "we are going to haft to fight down to the reactor"

"Chellick, give us another route" Garrus said to his friend. The Turian pulled the map back up and examined it.

"If we go out of these halls windows there is a roof below" Chellick said "we can breach in through the sky lights and reach the main floor quickly, it's a huge atrium and we would most definitely be dropping to a firefight"

"It's the best plan we got so let's get to it" Nithlus said. The Turians ran over to the window.

"We haft to planet charges on the reactors core, as soon as we reach the atrium floor fight to the eminence halls" Saran said. The other troops nodded, Garrus checked his rifle and then kicked in the window. The roof was a little slippery from the rain; Garrus singled the other Turians to follow. The roof had a slight slope to it, the sky lights where fifty feet down the roof. A Turian solider stepped out and onto the roof but was knocked back into the hall. A loud crack echoed, Garrus tried to turn and dive back into the hall but slipped and started too slid down the hall. Garrus saw the skylight racing up at him; he grabbed the repelling cable anchor and slapped it on to the roof. The repel anchor used a powerful magnet and stayed rock solid on the roof as Garrus slid down the roof towards the skylight. He aimed his rifle at the skylight and fired it at the glass, the window shattered and Garrus slid through the whole and stopped the repelling cable. He hung over the atrium floor a hundred feet below.

"Garrus!" Joram yelled.

"Yeah, im fine!" Garrus yelled back.

"Hang on where coming down!" Joram yelled. After a few seconds the other skylight fell in and the rest of the force came breaching through. Garrus reactivated his repellor and the entire force descended in to the atrium. The humans where pushing towards the large group of Turians that where trying to defend the reactor. Garrus fired his rifle as he dropped, the humans started to notice them. The Turians hit the ground and quickly took cover as the humans plasma rounds soared overhead. The rain blew in from the wrecked windows on one side of the atrium. Saran signaled Garrus to come over to him, Garrus looked around the edge of his cover and then sprinted the fifteen feet to where Saran and another Turian where talking. He quickly slid into cover and looked at Saran.

"Garrus, make sure that this position doesn't fall!" Saran said "Im taking the cabal to the reactor core"

"We need an evac point!" Garrus yelled over the roar of gunfire. Somewhere an explosion sent three Turians flying.

"Ill be honest, I don't think we will make it out of here!" Saran said "but it wouldn't hurt to have an escape plan would it!"

"Sir, I didn't come here to die!" Garrus said "We will rendouv here and then make our way back to the roof!"

"How the elevator is out!" the other Turian said.

"The primary lifts are, but the service lifts have emergency power!" Garrus said.

"The nearest one is two hundred yards behind us and it only runs to the hanger depot!" the Turian said.

"Simple we get picked up in the hanger!" Garrus said.

"All right you and Sargent Welkex hold here till we get the charges placed!"

"Make sure to give us plenty of time!"

April 1st 3232 0402 SMT/ Pavilion space port:

Jason took cover behind a burning Turian gunship, the spartans where assaulting the last Turian stronghold in the city. The spaceport was a sight of pure chaos, the Turians fought to repel the humans attack as hard as they could. Jason glanced around and saw the force of Turians at the end of the landing platform that stuck off the edge of the space port. He fired his rifle and a Turian crumbled, but he snapped back as enemy fire smashed into the wreckage to near his face for comfort.

"Move up!" John yelled to the rest of the spartan squad and the platoon of marines that were being lead by them. The humans gave each other covering fire as they advanced down the landing platform, the Turians had a frigate at the end and where loading personal on to it. Jason stepped out from behind the wreckage and sprinted foreword and took cover behind some crates, his shields had fell and he waited for them to charge. As soon as the shield bar read full he snapped up and fired his grenade launcher into a group of Turians near a bunch of crates. The area exploded and the aliens where vaporized when the grenade hit the gunship rockets that where in the crate. The Turians retreated down the pad and slowly made their way it the frigate, the crafts defensive lasers had been turned on the humans in an act of desperation. The frigate would never leave the platform as an artillery strike hit it dead center and caused the craft to explode killing the remaining Turians near but the landing platform was still alive with combat as a bunch of Turian troops had flanked the humans. Jason quickly rolled over the crates to the other side as the Turians flanked them and started to put a hoard of gunfire onto the humans.

"We are getting flanked!" Jason yelled out. John ran up and took cover against the edge of a small control building on the platform.

"I know keep fighting, we have to secure the star port!" John said.

(April 1st 3232 0402 SMT) Pavilion reactor:

Garrus dived fore cover as a grenade exploded behind him; the Turian scrambled and got behind a solid railing. He looked over to where Saran and the other two cabal troopers had gone down to the reactor, he saw Saran peak out from behind the doorway before running over to cover in the atrium his comrades close behind.

"The charges are set for four minutes everyone to the elevator now!" Saran ordered. The Turian force had been dwindling and when it started there was around thirty plus the twenty that arrived but the humans had been pushing hard and the arrival of spartan squad along with an entire platoon of marines had really made them start to suffer. Garrus took a deep breath and charged fore the open maintenance hall door fifty yards to his left and down the atrium. The other Turians all moved as well, they covered each other forcing the humans to keep their heads down. The Cabal troop sent out singularities making a line that was impossible for the humans to cross with out getting tossed in the air. Garrus reached the doorway and fired at the humans as the other Turian troops ran back, Joram had taken cover at a pillar and helped provide covering fire along with a few others. There were thirty of them and the Turians not giving cover fire quickly stormed into the hall and towards the lift. Garrus fired quick bursts to keep the weapon from overheating, he saw a few marines drop after he hit them with fire.

"Joram we are leaving solider!" Garrus yelled.

"I know cover us!" Joram yelled back as he and the other four Turians all vacated cover and ran for the door. Garrus didn't bother with short burst and just got as many rounds down range to keep the humans heads down. The first Turian made it through, but the others got mowed down when all the humans stood up and fired their weapons. Garrus watched Joram eyes go wide as he was hit in the side. He fell foreword but a round caught him in the head and his friends face exploded out ward. Garrus felt his kinetic barriers drop and hit the door button and ran back to the elevator. Nithlus hit the button for the hanger as soon as Garrus was on bored.

"Where's Joram?" Chellick asked. Garrus just shook his head; Chellick looked down at the floor. Garrus heard Saran on the radio talking to, he hoped, their ride out of the bomb they where currently in.

"Trexo its Saran the reactors now a bomb, you mind getting us out of here!" Saran barked over the comm. line, after a few seconds he spoke again.

"We will be in the hanger bay!" Saran yelled back as the elevator door opened. The Turian ran into the hanger bay, there where no humans.

"Take cover, they will have followed us" Nithlus said. Garrus quickly ducked behind a crate, he looked back and saw the open end of the hanger. The Turians remained ready; their weapons on the elevator door, but the humans still hadn't come after them. A loud roar caught Garrus's attention; the Turian looked and saw a flight of gunships inbound to extract them. They landed down the hanger some; the Turians wasted now time in running to their salvation. Just as they did the elevator door opened and the spartans that had arrived stormed out and gave chase. Garrus drove his legs as fast as he could as rounds bounced around him, a Turian next to him turned to fire and was reduced to Swiss cheese in mere seconds. Garrus ran to the loading ramp of the gunship turned and fired back at the fully armored humans. His fellow so idlers quickly ran up the ramp and into the troop bay, Garrus saw Saran bringing up the rear.

"Hurry!" Garrus yelled to the biotic Turian but to no avail as Saran's barrier gave out and he took a round in the leg. Garrus didn't hesitate his instincts took over as he ran foreword and grabbed hold of Saran, rounds hitting all around. The Turian grabbed Saran's armor and pulled with all his might to towards the gunship only ten feet away. Saran did what he could and fired at the spartans. Garrus heard his shields fall and felt the white hot pain of a round as it hit him in the leg but he powered on and pulled Saran up the ramp and into the safety of the Gunship.

"Get us out of here!" Garrus yelled in pain. The craft lifted off but rocked as the one next to it exploded from a spartan laser. The remaining gunships soared from the hanger as Garrus passed out from pain and blood loss.

April 1st 3232 0403 SMT/ Pavilion spaceport:

John fired his MA37 at the Turians, they quickly dropped down but Johns shields flared as rounds hit him. The spartan ducked down and heard the unmistakable sound of the Turian gunships overhead. The landing platform suddenly became a buzz with gunfire as the chain guns of the gunships poured rounds onto the humans below. John didn't dare break cover to see what was going on, the gunships kept everyone pinned down for at least a minute. After a minute or so the fire stopped completely and John stood up and saw a flight of gunships leaving the area. Jason held up his hand and flipped them off; most of the marines did the same.

"Where you going?" Robert yelled "we where done with you yet!"

That's when John heard it, a loud explosion that rocked the platform, he looked behind him and saw a bright flash twenty miles away on the other side of the city as the reactor exploded.

"Oh shit" John said, the entire assembled group started at it but Johns eyes grew huge as the massive shockwave rocketed towards them. The wave hit the platform and the struts holding it up broke and the massive structure fell fifty feet towards the ground.

"Fuck!" John heard his brother yell before he blocked out as something hit his head.

**Thanks for reading, as always I appreciate reviews. Till next time**


	10. The mourning after

**I apologize for the major delay in updates, I was at stated for wrestling I was an alternate so I didn't get in the tournament but I got next year since im only a junior. Anyway here is chapter ten enjoy.**

Jason opened his eyes; he felt a lot of weight bearing down on him. He opened his eyes and saw blackness; he could tell that he was trapped under some rubble of the platform that had fallen from the shockwave. He was able to get his arms underneath of his chest and he pushed up and felt the rubble move a bit. He pushed harder and the sound of a large slab of metal sliding told him that he wasn't buried under to much. He pushed farther and managed to get his legs under him and then pushed up with his arms and sent the debris that were on top of him flying a few feet before they thudded to the ground. He looked around, the sky was still dark and rain still fell on the ground. He could see broken and burning Turian gunships laying all over, debris and wreckage littered the streets. Angelica was crouched over Robert, the spartan was lying on the ground, and blood pooled around his shoulder and a bit of rock lay by. Jason stumbled a bit as he walked over to the medic who was busy applying aid to the wounded mans shoulder.

"You good Angel?" Jason said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head towards him and nodded; the somber mood radiated from her and enveloped the area.

"How's Robert doing?" Jason asked looking at his wounded team mate.

"He is done, that arm will need a prosthesis and it takes at least eighteen months to get it up to the same level as his real arm" Angel said. A large chunk of debris flew as Yazid shoved off with both of his legs and dusted of his shoulders before walking over to Jason.

"What's the plan now?" Yazid asked. Jason looked around more closely; he saw the bodies of marines lying around. A good amount were still breathing, a marine lay up against a slab of rock breathing heavy, some of his fellows were there as well. They had blood on their armor and were bandaged up. He saw two of the other spartans from his squad helping marines out, Julie was busy handing out medical gear to a corpsman and Maria was scanning the area with her rifle watching for any hostiles.

"The plan, find all the living people and get an evac inbound" Jason said "Where is John?"

"The boss man? I don't know where he is" Yazid said "I pray to Allah he is ok" Jason pulled the squad roster up on his HUD and saw John's status as living. He activated the Squads IFF's and looked around and saw the tag with Sierra 1 hovering over a Turian gunship.

"Found him, help me out here Yazid" Jason said. The two jogged over quickly, the gunship was a wreak and had buried itself in a pile of rubble. A muffled voice came out from underneath the craft; Jason could tell it was John.

"Get this fucking thing off of me!" John yelled. Jason and Yazid looked at each other, Jason drove his hand down between the rubble and the gunship, the Muslim spartan did the same on the other side.

"One, two, three" Jason said and the two lifted and John crawled out from underneath the craft. The spartans dropped the gunship, it fell beck down with a thud and water splashed everywhere. Johns left arm hung at a weird angle at the shoulder, his helmet had been knocked off and his face had blood on it along with dirt and fluids from the gunship.

"Who is still breathing?" John said panting a bit, his face obviously reflected pain.

"Me, Yazid, Maria, Julie and Angel are all good mostly" Jason said.

"Yeah, Roberts hurt badly and we still need to get Jack and Carrero" Yazid said. Jason turned the IFF's on and looked around the street and saw Jacks up higher. Jason looked up and wished that he didn't, he pointed to the sight and the other two looked up. Jack was on a rebar support; the metal rod had impaled him through the chest and had gone out through his heart. The three looked away form the sight of their dead comrade, Carrero still needed to be found. Yazid pointed and Jason saw Carrere's IFF tag moving, the spartan came jogging into view with a slight limb on the fourth floor of the building that was across the street from the spaceport.

"Carrero!" John yelled up to the Hispanic "How the hell did you get up there?"

"I jumped" Carrero said "The stairs are out of commission unfortunately and there are some marines up here that need medical help!"

"Ok, roger that!" John said "we will pick you up once the evac birds get here!"

Carrero nodded and jogged back into the building, Jason breathed a sigh of relief now that he knew his squad mate was still alive.

"John lets get you over to Angel so she can get that arm reset" Yazid said. John nodded and they walked over to the area that the other troops were at. The marines who were still well enough to walk and fire a weapon had set up a perimeter of sorts, they made a circle out of what debris they could have dragged over. Jason recognized the sergeant; the marine had his rifle resting on the makeshift cover and his other arm lay in a sling. The rain bounced off his patrol style cover and the tactical goggles that had once covered his eyes were around his neck. The lenses had been broken, so the HUD was useless to the wounded marine.

"Sargent Neibecker, how many wounded?" Jason asked as he crouched down next to the marine. Neibecker relaxed and sat down on the ground next to Jason.

"Wounded? Everyone" Neibecker said "Dead, most of the marine's im the only NCO left alive here"

"How many men dead give me a number" Jason said. Neibecker leaned back and rested his head on some rubble.

"We had four platoons; we have four squads left including the wounded"

Jason watched as Angel took Johns arm and pushed it back in place causing the spartan to groan in pain. Julie and Maria had made their way up a rubble pile and had set up a sniper post; the two watched the street like eagles. Robert lay next to the wounded marines, his arm was in a heavy duty sling and biofoam covered his shoulder, one of the wounded men had a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. Robert reached over and the marine handed it to him and the spartan took a hit from it.

"Command, this is sierra 2" Jason said.

"Jason, that you son?" Ack-Ack said through the comm. line.

"Yes sir" Jason said.

"All right, sit tight we have your position and we have pelicans inbound to get you guys out" Ack-Ack said.

"Sir, how bad is it?" Jason asked.

"We don't know quite yet" Ack-Ack said "just keep your men alive, we will be there in fifteen minutes tops"

"Aye, Aye sir" Jason said and cut the line. Jason reached up and removed his helmet and set it down next to him. His brown hair ruffled in the breeze, he closed his one remaining eye was rain blew into his face. John walked over and sat down next to his brother, his arm had been immobilized across his chest. The armor had looked itself to keep the arm stable to prevent further injury. Jason looked over at his brother; John had tears in his eyes as he saw the line of dead marines laying on the ground. He punched the ground with his good arm; the road cracked and broke, Johns tears rolled down his cheeks.

"To many, we lost far too many" The spartan said, Jason nodded in response to his brother.

"First Damon, now Jack and all these young marines" John said.

"Don't worry John, we will get the bastards" Jason said.

"Oorah" Neibecker said from next to him "I say we just glass the next planet, civilians and all"

Jason nodded his agreement and looked up as the sound of engines reached his ears, a flight of pelicans were coming in low and slow to pick the beaten men up.

"Come on lets get out of here" John said standing up.

April 1st, 3232 1205 SMT:

Ry ran through the corridors of a covenant ship, he dived through a door and closed it behind him. He shook his head, the dark corridors of the ship echoed with screams of the dying. Ry watched as something approached him from in the darkness, he grabbed his energy sword and tried active it but it wouldn't turn on. He banged the sword handle a few times but nothing happened. Ry watched wide eyed as more figures approached him, he could make them out now as they stepped in to the light in the hall. Brute females looked at him with fearful expressions; little brute children hide behind their mother's leg. A few Sangheili were present and shook there heads in disgust of the man before them. Ry recognized them all as people that he had killed. Ry watched as his mother walked through the group and stood in the front and just storied at him. Ry tried to open the door and leave the strange place, he had no idea how he got here, and the door wouldn't open.

"Where are you going Ry?" the female elite asked him walking closer. As she walked closer cuts started to open up on her skin and her blue blood started to drip out of the wounds. Her hands began to morph into claws, Ry's eyes got wide as he looked at the rest of the group the same thing was happening to them. By now they had changed into necromorph versions of themselves, Ry's mother stood inform of him. Bones stuck out at weird places, blood dripped from the elites many cuts and other wounds.

"We're not done with you yet!" She said as her voice morphed from the comforting sound Ry remembered into a horrid version of it as the necromorph version of Ry's mother swung its claws at Ry's neck.

"Ahhhh!" Ry screamed as he snapped awake, he held his head in his hands. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he quickly moved away from it. He looked up with his red eyes and saw Eva standing next to him, Ry let out a sigh of relief.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Ry" Eva said as she sat down next to him.

"How, how long was I out?" Ry asked the human female.

"Two years" Eva said as she looked at him. Ry was speechless; he couldn't believe that he had been unconscious for two years. Eva laughed and pointed at the elite and nearly fell of the bed.

"What's so funny?" He asked angrily.

"April fools, its only April first" Eva said between laughs. Ry was anger at first but that quickly gave away to relief as he lay back into the bed.

"Come on get dressed, we will be in port soon and Hudson will want to see you" Eva said.

"Wait, what was wrong with me?" Ry asked as he looked around. He saw monitors but none of them were on.

"Physically nothing, not even a scratch" Eva said "we have no idea why you passed out like you did but Hudson will defiantly have some questions for you so get a move on"

"Gee thanks" Ry said "just the wake up I want"

Eva rolled her eyes before wrapping her arms around the elite and squeezed him tight. Ry's eyes widened as the human female hugged him. He didn't know what to do so he hugged her back; he could smell her long blonde hair and feel the warmth from her skin.

"There, that better?" Eva asked letting go. Ry was still speechless, Eva stood and walked over to the door Ry swore she made sure to sway here hips more than necessary.

"Now get dressed lizard boy" She said before walking out of the door. Ry shook his head and got out of the bed and found an elite cut black BDU uniform. He put it on and walked out from the room and towards the bridge. He opened the door and he saw Hudson talking to Veronica nearby, both of the UNSC personal wore black BDUs. Hudson turned and saw the Sangheili walk up, Hudson nodded to Veronica who walked back over to the CIC command pedestal.

"Ry, how you doing?" Hudson asked the elite.

"I feel ok, Eva said the doc didn't find anything wrong with me" Ry said shrugging "So, what did we manage to find?"

"Unfortunately not much, Sarah will explain further" Hudson said as he led the Sangheili out from the bridge. Next to them the AI avatar for Sarah appeared and walked along beside them, Sarah wore a lab coat and glasses. She resembled Cortana but had longer hair and clothing as part of her avatar.

"We didn't find much intelligence on other Turian research stations or installations, we did get a good deal of data on the virus that they were attempting to turn into a weapon" Sarah said "we also know that the virus all ready existed"

"I don't see how this is relevant, it's like the flood and uses a host body" Ry said "nothing we don't know how to handle"

"Wrong Ry, the flood affect the nervous system and still need to be able to carry out basic badly functions to survive" Sarah said as she touched her holographic finger to a door and it opened up to revile the lab "the creatures made by the virus are not living at all. The virus repurposes dead cells to its uses and makes the necromorphs"

The three walked inside, something stirred in the room making Ry a little weary of the situation. Just then a dog came bounding up, its tongue hung out its mouth and it looked absolutely ecstatic to see people.

"I see you meet Albert" Hudson said as he petted the dogs head. The golden retriever closed its eyes contently. Ry looked around and saw something suspend in the stasis field in the center of the room, he felt drawn to it. Ry walked closer to the tank and got a good look at it, the two stacked long side pyramids that made it were covered in strange symbols. A door to the group's right opened and a women in a Hazmat suit stepped out, she reached up and took the hood off. Her black hair cascaded down her back and her eyes scanned over the three people in her lab, her Asian features relaxed a bit.

"Ry, meet Sawako" Hudson said "she is our lead researcher"

She held out a hand, Ry took it and shook.

"Good to meet you Ry" Sawako said in a slightly Ukrainian accent.

"Your accent sounds familiar, Chernov?" Ry asked. He had been stationed at the union base on Chernov for a few years and had gotten to know the local population fairly well.

"Yes, as a matter a fact" she said.

"Now, we were just telling Ry about the virus" Sarah said.

"Ah, yes" Sawako said "well I can tell you three things about it, first it is nearly invincible"

"Excuse me?" Hudson said "we dropped many of the creatures in that station"

"True but they were not killed" Sawako said "The removing of limbs just made them no longer a threat since they couldn't move or slash but they were not dead"

"What do you mean?" Ry asked his gaze drifted back to the pyramid.

"Think of every cell in the body as a separate organism, fully self supported and functional" Sawako said "The creatures are made like a man of war jellyfish, each cell helps the creature move, see and climb"

"So, if we cut the limb off it can still move and attack?" Hudson asked.

"No" Sawako said "the thing that makes the fact scary is that they can build on themselves. The virus can infect any dead cell, hair, nails, skin that falls off"

"What is the deal with this thing?" Ry asked pointing to the pyramid.

"Its is what permeates the virus" Sarah said "it also can destroy the virus"

"Then why not use it to do that?" Ry asked looking at the AI.

"It's far too dangerous, the thing has a mind of its own and when Hudson dropped it the red flash from it knocked you out" Sarah said. Ry looked at the pyramid; its symbols in its surface pulsed slightly. The Sangheili put his hand up to the glass and the pyramid seemed to call to him, he could hear a voice in his head calling his name. Ry's eyes went wide as the room seemed to flash and red energy wiped around the strange artifact, a image of Ry's mother appeared in the tank for only a second or two before everything went normal again. The elite grabbed his head, he felt like someone had just hit him upside the head with a bat.

"Ry, you ok?" Sawako asked. The elite stood up straight, his head still was pounding and he walked towards the door.

"Im fine just need some food" He said before walking out the door and another vision much like the last flashed. Strange, deadly looking lights flashed around the hall, the flashing images made Ry step back as he saw his mother walk towards him.

"Make us whole Ry" she said before the images stopped. Ry shook his head and walked down the hall farther to the mess hall.

April 3rd 3232, 1915 SMT/ Venator UNSC base:

Jason sat down on the rack in the barracks that the spartan company had been put in. The barracks was divided by squad into ten person bays. He had on his NWU pants, and the blue undershirt. Five of the other squad members were in the bay; Carrero lay asleep on the bed. Yazid was reading a book as he lay on his rack, Julie had a trap spread out on her rack and the sniper rifle she used was broken down. She was busy cleaning the bolt of the weapon; Maria had her weapon also broken down on a tarp and was busy checking the scope. Angelica was doing push ups on the floor as Jason walked in. Jason went over to his locker and opened it up; he examined the picture in the door he had put up yesterday when they had arrived. The squad smiled back at him, Damon had his usual grin on his face and Jack had the neutral expression he always had. Jason grabbed a cigar from the humidor in the locker and quickly closed the door, it slammed shut and the others looked up. Jason flopped down on the rack, he cut the cigar and pulled his lighter out and flicked it on. The end toasted and Jason took a quick draw, the smoke filled his mouth and he tasted the flavors before letting the smoke out.

"We should go do something" Jason said. The others looked at him; Julie only glanced as she continued to clean the bolt of the rifle.

"I mean, come on we shouldn't just mope around here" Jason said.

"Jason, dude no one feels like going anywhere" Carrero said. Jason took another puff on his cigar before speaking again.

"Look, Damon and Jack are gone it sucks " Jason said "Now we can sit around here and be all depressed or we can go get drunk, toast them all night long and yell fuck the Turians"

"Im in" Julie said "sounds fun, besides its boring around here"

"Fuck it" Angel said "Im down"

"Ill go" Yazid said.

"Ill drive" Carrero said.

"Fine, ill go" Maria said.

April 3rd 3232, 2024 SMT/ ONI Toshiba base/ Allusion:

Hudson walked down a hall, Eva, Ry and the other spartans and elites in the task group followed him. The darkened halls of the ONI base made the situation feel even more foreboding as the group walked down the hall towards a large door. Two guards flanked the door, like the group they were spartans, Hudson didn't need to see their faces to know that the means eyes followed the group like hawks.

"Major Hudson" one guard said "you are expected go on in"

The door opened and the group walked in, Veronica was talking with a ONI researcher and the two turned when the group walked in.

"Good, you made it" Veronica said "well, command has decided that we get to be the ones to field test some new toys" the Colonel said with a smile on her face "Meet doctor Hsu"

"Good evening" Hsu said "First things first here, you needed to know what you are about to see are top secret combat suits that have been in development for the last seventy five years. This was a joint operation between the UNSC and Union; you get to test something that is one the bleeding edge of technological development"

"So, when do we get to see it?" Hudson asked. Hsu smiled and motioned them to follow him out of a small door into what appeared to be a hanger of sorts; he walked over to a terminal and activated a switch on it. Three panels on the floor vented steam and a stasis chamber came out from under the panels inside was what they had came for.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present to you the Nanosuit Mk2" Hsu said as lights kicked in and the group could see what was in the chambers better. The suit resembled a human muscle structure with jet black muscle like structures attaching to silver supports, a strange helmet rested on the shoulders. The face was protected by a red visor and a steel top protected the head. An Elite version sat in one of the chambers.

"What you are looking at is a combat suit that makes the current MIJONIOR a thing of the past" Hsu said.

"Why?" A spartan asked "what makes it better?"

"First, the suit naturally enhances you like the current armor system but runs at thirty three percent above the baseline. Meaning that before in your old armor system if you could run at thirty miles an hour you can now hit forty with ease, so far from the tests we have done using spartans and elites we have seen sprinting speeds of up to eighty MPH"

Hsu activated another switch and the hatches on the chambers opened "second your reaction time is doubled by the suit, its enhances your strength by fifty percent and agility by close to sixty"

Hudson was standing their shocked but he still had doubts, this suit my make them faster stronger and more agile but that didn't matter if it couldn't take hits.

"How much damage can this suit take?" Hudson asked.

"You could take a scorpion cannons shell and only have bruising and that's baseline" Hsu said "the suit runs at baselines but it has the ability to enhance you for brief periods of time even further, along with the most effective cloaking system in existence this suit is the ultimate weapon"

"Energy shields?" Ry asked.

"Twenty percent above the MIJIONOR" Hsu said "and even better, this suit works with the standard modular armor system used by the marines and ODST" Hsu looked at the group with a sly smile "So who wants to take it for a test drive?"

April 3rd 3232, 2104 SMT/ Venator:

Jason and the rest of the squad that had come sat at the bar of the _Hub_, many other UNSC personal where in the bar. Jason took another swig from his beer, the conversations around him and his squad just went in one ear and out the other. They had lost three men from their squad, Damon was dead along with Jack and Robert was in way ready to be on the frontlines yet. Jason took a hold of his beer, to a long draft and set it down his one good eye scanned a menu in front of him as he tried to think of what to get.

"Hey, Jason don't go beating yourself up" Carrero said "It's not you or Johns or anyone's fault"

"I know" Jason said.

"And don't worry we will get revenge for them" Carrero said.

"Ill kill every last one of those scaly basterds" Julie said from down the line.

"Ill drink to that" Yazid said and the whole squad clinked glasses. Jason chug the rest of his beer and slammed the beer down. The bar was not under military rules but most men still followed them and the sound of the door opened followed by a marine yelling "Attention on deck!" made the entire bar a chorus of noise as men and women snapped to attention. Jason stood still as he heard footsteps approaching him; he relaxed when he heard the unmistakable sound of Ack-Ack's voice say "at ease all of you".

"Sir, good to see you" Jason said turning and facing the Colonel.

"Like wise major, glad that most of your squad made it out" Ack-Ack said. Jason looked past the colonel and saw three young looking people behind him, they wore the standard digital blue uniform and spartan patches covered their right chest. Two boys and a girl, they stood at ease with duffel bags by their feet.

"Sir, who are they?" Jason asked. Ack-Ack turned and glanced at them and then back to Jason.

"Your replacements, ill leave you to get accounted and by the way im not supposed to tell you grunts this but you guys deserve to hear it. Our shore leave has been cut short we ship back out soon and are meeting the rest of our reinforcements in orbit"

"Great, so these guys wont get any training time with us" Jason said "thanks for dropping off the kids"

"No problem, where is John?" Ack-Ack asked.

"Kat came to visit why we were on leave so he may be balls deep by now" Jason said. The two chuckled, Ack-Ack put a hand on Jason's shoulder and patted it twice before nodding and walking form the bar. Jason snapped his gaze to the new squad members.

"Attention" Jason ordered causing the three to snap to attention hand by their sides.

"I am Major Jason Wells, I lead fire team bravo two of you will get to join me and Carrero the other is with my Brother John" Jason said "Now listen up and listen close, you will follow mine, my brothers and the rest of the squads orders regardless of your own personal rank. We have been fighting together for fifteen years and you have not"

"Sir, I will not take orders from anyone below me" one of the men said. Jason walked over and looked him in the face with the eye he had left.

"What your name son"

"Darrel Jones, sir" the man said.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty three" Darrel said.

"Let me guess you're an LT" Jason said.

"Yes sir"

"Well im a Major and I said you will take orders from anyone in this squad"

"Sir Regs say th..."

"Regs!" Jason yelled the whole bar became silent. "Boy, as soon as your feet hit the ground regs don't mean a fucking thing! Combat has no rules! As of now you are not an officer, you aren't even ranked! You have no combat experience what so ever and think that you will tell a sergeant with fifteen years of combat experience that he is wrong! Experience out ranks everything! On your face shitbag and do pushups till im tired and no longer pissed off!"

Darrel dropped to the floor his eyes wide and started to knock pushups out as Jason stepped over and looked at the girl.

"Name, rank" Jason stated.

"Nichol, corporal" the girl said. She had short cut black hair and Jason could see her Asian decent present in her features.

"Any combat experience?" Jason asked "or are you as green as that spitfuck over there?"

"Green sir, hoping to fix that soon" Nichole said.

"I like your attitude, go take a set at the bar and meet the rest of the squad" Jason said. He came to the last one of the newbie's; the man had short blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Name and rank"

"Cale Sanderson, Corporal"

"Any combat?"

"Yes sir, I was on Cordious when the brutes launched a raid"

"Good so you are not so green" Jason said "Spit fuck your done"

Darrel stood up and made for the bar, but he didn't make it.

"Did I say you could go to the bar!" Jason yelled.

"No sir"

"That's right now stand there!" Jason said disgusted "Cale, care for a drink?"

"I would love one sir"

"All right" Jason said "and drop the sir crap your on leave now"

**Short, not much but reviews are still nice. Let me know what you guys think and next chapter I promise there will be action. The poll is still open.**


	11. There is no glory in war

**Ok, only five reviews for the last chapter hopefully I will get more for this chapter. Up to thirty six favs and forty one alerts, which is awesome! Warning this is not for the faint of heart, it is fairly saddening. If this chapter had been written like a song fic the song would be Far From Home by five finger death punch. The favorite character is the gun toting blonde spartan Eva, and the rest are tied between Jason Wells, Ack-Ack, Maria Toland, Nithlo, and Angelica Reyna.**

April 17th 3232, 0754 SMT/ Briefing room aboard the UNSC Cruiser _Carter_

Every spartan in E company sat or stood in the briefing room, they wore their NWUs as they waited for Ack-Ack to show up. Jason and John sat next to each other at a table, the rest of Sierra stood behind them. A few of the spartans talked amongst themselves but everyone was silent for the most part.

"So, how were your days with Kat?" Jason asked his brother.

"Good, its going really good" John said.

"Really? That's good" Jason said. John reached into a pocket of his uniform and pulled out a small box. Jason raised his uncovered eyebrow; the eye patch he wore over his destroyed eye covered the eyebrow on that side of his face.

"Im going to ask her to marry me" John said smiled. Jason was shocked at first but smiled at his brother after a second.

"Good for you bro" Jason said. The door at the bottom of the room opened and Ack-Ack came walking in, the company was on its feet in a matter of mere micro-seconds.

"Be seated if you can" Ack-Ack said. The spartans all sat down if they had been sitting before, and the squad leaders put their TACPADS into the docks on the tables to receive data.

"As you all are aware, a week ago the Turians and the other races of the citadel launched a large scale offensive on the colony of Heaven, another relay hub planet" Ack-Ack said as he pulled up a picture of the planet. Hundreds of warships from the UNSC, Union and citadel where over the planet but remained out of each others line of fire.

"All the fleets are not engaging yet and we pulled back to the far side of the planet, the navy is waiting for us to reinforce them and then we begin the counter assault" Ack-Ack pulled a picture of one of the largest cities on the planet Adamscrest, symbols representing Turian lines and positions covered the maps. The city was under their complete control that much was apparent to the assembled solders.

"Adamscrest, the city is completely under Turian control. They also hold four other large cities but this one has been deemed the most crucial to regain due to it being the closest to our main line. We take this city back we get a strong foot hold into the Turian controlled area" Ack-Ack pulled up a larger topographical map "After we have secured Adamscrest we will be pushing through the jungle area towards Rockven. When we landed at Adamscrest we will be landing with marines but not every where, the 5th marines are landing and will be assaulting the Eastern side of the city. The ODST battalions are landing in mass at enemy Artillery and Triple A batteries to take out their fire support. Our job is to smash the enemy lines with the marines and then assault their positions. Understood?"

"Sir, why are we not dropping in and assaulting the enemy batteries?" Major Erickson, Echo squad leader asked.

"The enemy lines are heavily reinforced in many areas, the know that a counter attack was coming and have prepared" Ack-Ack said "Tanks would weigh the pelicans down to much so they will be landing us to be force multipliers to the marines. Any more questions?"

"No sir" the spartans answered.

"Good, now the assault on Adamscrest is set to begin as soon as the navy has engaged the Turian fleet" Ack-Ack said "We will be landing via pelican and we are not going to be assaulting as individual squads but platoons. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie are Platoon one Maj. Dahil is the PL, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot you are our weapons platoon. You will land set up a mortar battery and give us fire support, Maj. Vickers you lead them" Ack-Ack went on through the company "Sierra, Terra, and Uniform squads you are Platoon seven. Major John Wells is PL. Victor, Whiskey, and X-ray are platoon eight and my command platoon your under me. Platoons one and two are going to be launching an assault on the enemy lines at this location here, there defensive line is lightest here and you should break through without much issue. After you do break through you will push towards the enemy command base in the Toshiba tower" Ack-Ack said "Platoons three, four, five and six will be assaulting the front of the enemy defensives with most of the 3rd marines. Break through, and then you will secure an area for us to setup our staging area. Platoon Seven is going in OD with Three platoons of ODST rangers and will be assaulting the enemy command structure. You will also be attacking with a platoon of Sangheili rangers and after you have an LZ the union will land two hunter teams. You drop as soon as Major Dahil and Major Mackenzie begin their attack on the command base" Ack-Ack sighed and leaned foreword on the table "Keep your heads down, your eyes down range and don't freeze up, and we all make it back alive" Ack-Ack stood up straight "Good hunting, dismissed"

April 17th 3232, 0934 SMT/ Heaven/ Turian defensive line:

Garrus sat in a smaller building that was part of the Turian line, He could see out across the suburban area. He watched the area with his small, predator like eyes, he knew the attack was coming and he need to be ready. He had been promoted and was now a sergeant and squad leader, he and his squad had been stationed in the area where they would most likely push into first due to its three highways in close proximity. They had pushed the union out of the city and knew that they would be back. The Sangheili had been as dangerous as the spartans and Garrus had heard reports of hostiles that where much bigger, meaner and had more armor than a starship but that was pure ludicrous. Garrus took up his rifle and walked over to Xicar, the younger Turian was manning the mounted machine gun.

"How you feeling Xicar?" Garrus asked as he knelt down next to the Turian, he was all of sixteen.

"Im scared, I have never been in battle before let alone against the humans" Xicar said.

"We are all scared Xicar, its natural to be afraid" Garrus said "Just remember your training and you will be fine"

"Yes sergeant" Xicar said. Garrus looked out across the area in front of the line; he could see the sun rising above the horizon.

"Sargent what happens if we are going to be over run?" Xicar said.

"We fall back and set up again, just like we were taught" Garrus said.

"What if it's Spartans?" Xicar asked him concern laced his voice.

"Then we run" Garrus said. A loud scoff came from the back of the room; Garrus looked back and saw the three Krogan that had been assigned to the position.

"I thought Turians never ran" said the leader. Garrus stood and walked over to the large reptilian alien. Garrus looked him in the eye, the Krogan just smirked back.

"Or has some puny humans scared the great Turian hierarchy into retreating?"

"You ever face a Spartan?" Garrus asked.

"No, can't say that I have" the Krogan said smugly.

"Then you better hope they don't show up here" Garrus said "they make you look like a pyjak" the Krogan laughed at the comment, one had to use a buddy to brace himself he was laughing so hard.

"Well, we have been put in our place" the leader said "im calling Garm right now and saying I need a ride out of here"

"Laugh all you want boys" Garrus said.

"Yeah, what could possible make us look like a pyjak?"

"How about a seven foot tall full armored human warrior that can run close to sixty kilometers and hour and throw a punch down a wall in one hit" Garrus said.

"Yeah, ok pal"

Garrus just scoffed and went back to Xicar; the young Turian was wide eyed and shaking. Garrus's comm. went off the Turian sergeant quickly answered it.

"Sargent, the humans just dropped large groups of infantry at our batteries"

"What? How?"

"Those damn pods, they hit the triple A really hard and most of its down, expect hostiles anytime" Garrus looked up; he saw black dots appearing all over the sky.

"Squad, man your positions we got incoming!" Garrus ordered as he dove behind cover as a human fighter launched a salvo of missiles at the line.

April 17th 3232, 1056 SMT/ High orbit over Heaven/ UNSC _Carter_:

Jason looked over his BR57 rifle, he loaded the magazine into the magazine well and racked the first round, the bolt rocketed foreword and locked in place with a metallic click. He slid the grenade launcher open and slid a forty millimeter grenade into place. He snapped it closed; a smile graced his scared face as he checked the holographic sight he had placed on the weapon instead of the ACOG style scope. He slung the weapon on his back and looked around at the squad, the new people's armor was shiny and clean. Jason looked over his own armor, numerous scrapes and damaged areas covered the thick plates. He stood and went over to Darrel; the spartan wore an operator helmet and MK V shoulder pads. He was busy loading magazines into a LRP chest rig and the soft case on his leg. Jason picked up the spartans weapon, Darrel also used a BR57, and Jason flicked the safety of and handed it back to the spartan.

"Always drop ready to fight, you'll live longer that way" Jason said as the other spartan officer took the rifle. Nichole was busy checking over her own weapon a MA37 and took note and flicked the safety off. She smiled at Jason, she had a recon chest set up and everything else was FJ Para and she had an air assault helmet. Cale had a complete commando set up except for the knee pads, FJ Para.

"Platoon seven, form up!" John yelled. The spartans quickly sprang to action and got assembled into three ranks the squad leaders all stood at the end of lines, John and Jason stood in front of them. The spartans had their helmets of and under their right arm; John had his helmet off as well.

"Most of you know me, I have served with you for the last fifteen years" John said "To the new people I am Major John Wells, my brother will be the platoons xo" John looked the platoon over "Remember our mission, keep your eyes down range and stay frosty and we all come home"

"I am Major Jason Wells, I will be the platoon XO" Jason began "the battle is not going to be some cake walk, our enemy is well trained and well equipped and will out number us at all times"

"I don't know if those scaly basterds have any idea the wrath we are about to bring down on them" John said "The enemy has assaulted our homes, killed our people and invade our worlds for no reason. Those mother fuckers have no idea whets coming"

"We are spartans, the finest killing machines the UNSC has and command has given us only one ROE" Jason said smiling a bit "Kill them all"

"Oorah!" The spartans yelled.

"You are the finest solider the world has ever known you will not just kill the enemy. You will smash him, rip him limb from limb and murder them any way you can!" John said. The spartans replied with another Oorah.

"Now get in your pods and prepare to drop!" Jason ordered as he placed his helmet on his head, the spartans jogged foreword and got into their pods. Jason set his rifle into its holder and hit the button to close the foreword hatch.

"Spartans, Rangers contact made you are clear to drop. Give them hell"

"Oorah!" the rangers and spartans yelled before the pods shoot out from the ship and towards the war zone below. The Turians below had no clue that thirty spartans and nearly one hundred and eighty rangers where coming for blood.

April 17th 3232, 1015 SMT/ Heaven/ Turian defensive line:

Garrus snapped up from cover and fired his weapon at the humans, a marine dropped with a scream that the Turian couldn't hear over the mass amounts of gunfire, explosions and screaming men on both sides. Garrus watched as an asari stood to send a biotic attack at the enemy only to have her chest explode from a human snipers rifle. Garrus fired his weapon again at the humans who were advancing. Garrus saw through the sight on his rifle as another human marine dropped behind cover as Garrus weapon had only dropped the shield that he used. The Turian dropped down behind cover, the line was barley holding. A screeching noise filled the air before the building nearby exploded and sent Garrus flying, his helmet went flying off. Garrus's flew twenty feet before smashing back to the ground; he couldn't hear anything as he looked around. He couldn't even move as he watched the battle. A group of three Turians stood and fired their weapons but they where cut down by the humans weapons. The young Turian solider were dead before they hit the ground, Garrus looked over and saw his friend Jarem kneeling over him. He couldn't hear what the Turian was saying, Garrus looked around and saw his helmet nearby and placed it back on his head. He could start to hear again, Jarem yelled at him again.

"Garrus, the lines breaking! They have a reaper ov…" Jarem began but his head exploded from a round. Garrus quickly dove for cover at the line of rubble that made up the front of the line.

"Fall back!" Garrus ordered the Turians, asari and Krogan. The solider all turned and ran back down the street; they gave pot shoots back at the humans. Garrus fired his weapon as he turned gave a quick few bursts of covering fire; three more marines were killed by his hand. Garrus saw a wounded asari lying on the ground, she had been hit in her stomach and her blood covered her armor. Garrus ran over to her, her eyes were darkening from blood lose. He picked her up fireman style and started to run to where the other solider had taken cover, they fired their weapons back at the humans. Garrus ran as fast as he could down the street to a safe area, the area where a group of Turians and Krogan had taken covered was rained on by the reaper gunship overhead. The troops didn't stand a chance as the rounds tore them apart. Garrus ran around a corner and set the asari gingerly down, she was now fading.

"Medic!" Garrus yelled as he pulled out some medical gel and applied it to the wound.

"Turian, promise me something" the Turian said between coughs "give this to my sister"

The asari reached into her armors pockets and handed Garrus an envelope.

"You wont need me to, you are going to make it through this" Garrus looked around wild eyed as more troops ran around the corner "Medic!"

"It's all right, just promise me" the asari said as she grabbed the large collar of Garrus armor.

"Ok" Garrus said sadly as he watched the asari begin to fade out "ok"

The asari smiled as the life left her eyes and she fell back to the ground. Garrus grabbed his rifle and looked around; he saw his squad and ran over to them. They had taken cover in a large hole in the street; Xicar was still manning the machine gun and had run with it from their original position. Garrus slid into the hole and started to fire his rifle again as gunships soared over head and began to pound the enemy line. A tear slid down the Turians cheek as he kept shooting and the storm that was rolling over the city darkened the sky with its gray clouds.

April 17th 3232, 1059 SMT/ Heaven:

Jason grabbed his rifle and readied himself as the ground came ever closer, he saw the Turians firing their weapons at the approaching drop pods. The pod smashed into the ground and the hatch exploded off and Jason was a flurry of motion as he leapt from the pod and charged at the enemy line, the other twenty nine spartans hit the street that ran along the large open ground area that surrounded the Toshiba tower. The Turians fired at the charging spartans, but they couldn't drop them fast enough. As Turians stood to fire or tried to remain the machine gun they got killed by the charging spartans. The rangers landed just after the massive full armored warriors and they ran to the enemy line following the spartans example. Jason vaulted over the Turian sand bags and landed in the trench that they had dug. A Turian whipped around and got a combat knifes blade through his lower jaw, Jason quickly yanked the knife out and brought his rifle to bear on the enemy Turians down the line and fired at two that came around the corner. The Turians in the trenches front where of no concern as spartans and rangers jumped into the trench and engaged them in hand to hand fighting. Jason holstered his knife and reloaded his weapon.

"Sierra Bravo on me!" Jason yelled and Carrero, Nichole and Damon formed up behind him. The spartans ran down the trench till they came to a junction, Jason peeked around the corner and saw a group of Turians just before they opened fire. Jason pulled his head back and blindly fired his BR57's grenade launcher, the screams were all the confirmation he need and he lead the spartans around the corner up the trench. A squad of rangers went along the other side, a Turian grenade came around the corner and Jason reacted as fast as only a spartan could and kicked it back. The device exploded and the spartans and rangers ran down the trench and around the corners into another trench that went parcel to the road. Jason was charged by a bigger alien that looked reptilian in nature; he set his feet and threw it up and out of the trench. A loud smash told him he thrown it through a window. Jason jumped out of the trench and saw the alien laying against the ground covered in broken glass. It shrugged it off and raised a shotgun at Jason who quickly closed the distance between them and tackled the alien through the wall. The alien kicked him over using its short but powerful legs. Jason drew his combat knife and the alien did the same, the two circled for only a few seconds before the alien roared and took a slash at Jason. The spartan grabbed the aliens arm and slashed it across the stomach; it reacted and punched the spartan whit enough force to send him back a few feet. Jason recovered in time to see the thing charge again but Jason was ready and hooked one of his arms over the aliens and hooked the other under the aliens other and threw it back and over his hip so he landed on top of it and proceeded to beat the lizard like alien with his fists. Its blood started to cover Jason's armor but it would not die as it took its fist and slammed it into Jason chest knocking him off. It quickly shoved him off and was now on top of Jason, the alien lizard started to wail on the spartans face but Jason brought his arms up to protect himself. The thing reached down and ripped the spartans helmet off and threw it across the room. It drew a knife, and then roared in Jason's face before it slammed the knife down. Jason moved his head out of the way and brought his legs up and hooked them under the aliens head and forced it back. It roared again as Jason heard its spine break; the spartan quickly got out from under it and walked over to its head.

"Eat it mother fucker" Jason said before stomping the alien's skull in. The other spartans in his fire team came in through the hole that Jason had made in the wall by tackling the Krogan through it. Jason picked his helmet up and grabbed his rifle as Nichole offered it to him.

"John I have another way into the building, im leading my fire team and a squad of rangers into the building"

"Roger that hold up ill bring the rest of the squad to you" John said "the snipers have been dropped off and are giving us fire support and the unions men landed on the west side of the tower, the other UNSC forces are moving in from the east and we are attacking the south"

"Understood holding tight till you get here" Jason said. It didn't take long for John to come through the hole in the wall followed by the rest of sierra squad.

"Lead on" John ordered his brother. Jason opened the door and led the squad of spartans and rangers down the hallway. He loaded a fresh grenade into his launcher as he did. The spartans came to a set of stairs and proceeded up them. At the top was the large atrium entrance to the tower, the Turians were massed at the front of the room against the sandbags that they had set up for cover.

"Okay, everyone with a forty mike-mike fire on my mark" John said as the rangers and spartans with the under slung grenade launchers stepped up and took aim.

"Mark" John said and the four grenades flew into the Turians lines, the resulting explosions killed a good deal of the aliens. The others in the atrium saw the humans and opened fire on them. Jason dove behind a pillar and then snapped out and fired burst of rounds into the aliens. The rest of the force charged up the stairs and the Turians and their other alien allies where caught in a huge cross fire. It didn't take long before the atrium was full of dead bodies, human, Turian, asari and even a few Salarians. The humans had captured the atrium.

"Sierra 1, this is field officer Venthelo"

"Go ahead"

"We have taken the west side of the tower and are beginning to clear the rest of the structure"

"Roger that, clear floor by floor till we reach the top" John said.

"Understood, my justice guide your hand" the elite on the other end of the communication line said. John shouldered his rifle and headed to the nearest door and stacked up, the rest of the squad did the same. Rangers and spartans sprung into action as the headed to stairs, and doors and began the assault on the rest of the tower.

April 17th 3232, 1110/ citadel:

Trexo walked along the hallway of the Turian military base on the citadel, he was to meet with Nithlo. Trexo wore his dress uniform, medals shined and ribbons adorned his uniform as he walked down the hall his head held high. His walk spoke of confidence but his eyes told a different story. Skirmishes and other small scale conflicts are what occurred most now days; no one in the citadel was used to the idea of a full scale galactic war. Trexo had come to one conclusion ever since Shanxi, war was pure hell. He walked through a door and came to a meeting room, inside was a Nithlo, and some one he had not been expecting.

"Trexo, it is a pleasure to meet you" Trevnor said holding out his hand. Trexo was speechless; he shook the Turian councilor's hand.

"Sir, it is an honor" Trexo said.

"Have a seat my good general" Nithlo said. Trexo sat down and the councilor sat next to him and Nithlo sat across from him.

"Trexo, how committed are you to the hierarchy?" Nithlo asked him.

"I would die for it in a heart beat, anything I can do to better it I would" Trexo said.

"Good, what we are about to tell you is top secret" Trevnor said "it's the real reason for this war"

Trexo's eyes widened as the two stated into their explanation of the reason behind the war. After a few minutes they had ended and Trexo was dumbstruck, he had been hit by a realization that felt like being hit by a Krogan. His councilor, the general he had served under and now commanded for were traitors to the citadel and everything the hierarchy stood for.

"Why did you tell me this?" Trexo asked trying to keep his voice as even as possible.

"You are a loyal and patriotic Turian; you understand that our cause is just. We wanted you to be a bigger part of it. You display courage, loyalty and determination all qualities that will need people that will help bring the galaxy to order need. We want you to join us" Nithlo said.

"You don't have to answer us right now, we will let you think but what we told you never leaves this room" Trevnor said "If you don't you will continue to serve as only a general under Nithlo, accept and we will give you your own armies. After the war is finished you will be one of the most powerful people in the galaxy"

"I haft to think about this" Trexo said.

"Sleep on it and get back to us when you can, we understand its is a lot to take in" Trevnor said "the realization of what we must do and if you are willing to do it"

"Yes, it is" Trexo said. He calmly stood and walked from the room, he stayed cool as he left the base and headed home. He couldn't let them know what he was considering doing.

He talked to himself as he drove home.

"I can't go to C-Sec their in Trevnor's pocket, they will arrest me for sure" Trexo said "ill get a hold of Senryn, she will know what to do"

April 17th 3232, 1112 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest city:

Garrus sat on a human chair; he looked at the letter that had being given him by the asari. He looked at it; the name caught his eye, Liara T'Soni. Garrus put the letter into a pocket and looked at the squad, they had taken cover in a small building at the Turians fallback line but the humans weren't pushing much farther. Xicar sat in a corner he still had the machinegun in his arms, turns out the young Turian had carried the weapon in his arms and fired it from the hip as he fallback. The squad had twelve in it originally but had been reduced to half that. Javor was eating from one of his rations in a corner; Tenvo has busy checking his rifle. Vector and Grenvo sat back to back asleep. Xevor was at the door, he was staring off into space. Xicar was shaking and flinched at the sound of gunfire, he had been more than shaken by the day's events.

"We are getting destroyed" Xevor said "we were holding fine but then that fucking reaper showed up"

Garrus shoot Xevor a glare before looking at Xicar who was shaking. Garrus stood and sat down next to the young Turian; he was only sixteen and would never be the same the rest of his life.

"How can this be happening?" Xevor said as he punched the wall "We are the strongest military in the galaxy and here we are being forced back by some new enemy and cowering in a basement"

"Look, we are all a little shaken up" Tenvo said.

"Shaken up? Hey, Tenvo news flash Xicar is still shaking like a leaf!"

"Yeah and you aren't helping at all with your, we are doomed speech!" Tenvo said.

"Shut up both of you!" Garrus said standing and stepping between the two.

"Fuck you guys!" Xevor said and walked up the stairs through the basements hatch like door. He didn't get far before his head exploded from a sniper, the Turians body fell back down the stairs.

"Contact!" Garrus yelled and quickly closed the hatch door and lead the other men to the first floor as the roar of a firefight erupted as the humans assaulted the Turians defensive line. Garrus punched a window out and started to fire his rifle; Xicar quickly set the machinegun down on a table and fired out of the hole in the wall. The tanks fired their weapons at the advancing humans, Garrus watched as the explosions tore the humans apart. The human's artillery found its mark and a few tanks exploded but a good deal of the shells smashed into the Turians line and more screams were added to the chorus of death. Xicar kept firing his weapon, the machineguns barrel began to overheat but it never reached that point as a human marine zeroed in on the Turian solider and put six rounds into him. The first four dropped the barriers but Xicar was to slow as the other two hit him in the chest and he fell back. His black blood pooled under him, he coughed up blood, and Garrus was wide-eyed and roared as he snapped from cover and held the trigger on his weapon and turned a poor unfortunate human into bits of metal and steel. Garrus quickly went to work on Xicar; he applied the medical gel as quick as he could.

"Medic!" Garrus yelled. He held Xicars head in his lead as bullets pinged into the wall as the other Turians in the room fired back at the humans. An asari ran over and slid across the ground to the wounded Turian.

"I got him!" She said as she started to bandage and work on Xicar. Garrus cried as the young Turian lay in his arms bleeding out.

"You got this Xicar, its nothing" Garrus said encouragingly "don't you dare die on me, that's an order!" Xicar nodded as Garrus kept encouraging the young man to fit on.

**Please review and vote in the poll.**


	12. Dear Agony

**Five reviews for the last chapter but that's ok. As for the fight between Jason and the Krogan, yeah it was ridiculous but I liked the idea so I went with it. Also I really need to stop listening to breaking Benjamin when writing, this chapter like the last is sad but I guess that is just the way it is. Any way enjoy, and yes I did try to make the battles more even. **

April 17th 3232, 1653 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest/ Toshiba Tower:

Jason sat on a bit of a broken pillar in the atrium of the tower; an open ammunition case was next to him. He had stacked up his empty magazines next to him and was busy sliding fresh ammo into the magazines, Sargent Zuberer walked over to him. He sat down next to the spartan and took of the ODST helmet and took a magazine from one of the pockets on his armor.

"Care if I join you?"

"Go ahead, there is plenty of ammunition for everyone" Jason said pushing the box closer to the ODST. Zuberer nodded and took a handful of shells and started to load the rounds into the magazine.

"How many rangers did we lose?" Jason asked.

"A platoon and seven from the rest of the force" Zuberer said "To many, and they didn't have many biotics here"

"Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this" Jason said.

"What do you mean?" Zuberer asked looking up from his magazine.

"I don't know" Jason said "I just don't have a good feeling about this battle"

Jason slid the last round into his last magazine; he slammed it home in his rifle and sent the BR57's bolt foreword.

"Just keep your rifle loaded" Jason said as he stood up and walked from the make shift seat and to the front of the atrium where they had set up a defensive line. Carrero stood at the line and watched the streets; Jason placed an armored hand on the Hispanics shoulder.

"We lost too many rangers, and three spartans" Carrero said as he looked at Jason.

"Yeah, we did but we made them pay for each one" Jason said. Carrero nodded and went back to scanning the streets, brought his rifle up and aimed at a corner of one of the streets.

"Jason, one o'clock you see that?" Carrero asked. Jason drew his binoculars and zoom the lenses in on the corner. He saw nothing but then an asari popped her head out from the edge of a building.

"We got company!" Jason yelled as a gunship flew over head and pummeled the stair case, the rangers and marines on the stairs dove but many didn't escape and where vaporized in the blasts. Jason ducked down behind the sandbags, as another salvo of rockets smashed into the building as gunships soared in from overhead. He popped out from cover and sight on the enemy and fired of three quick burst reducing a Turian to a corpse, before he ducked down he saw a ranger get pulled into the air by an asari biotic. Jason took aim on her but the asari was killed out right by a sniper round. A group of rangers was suddenly thrown into the air as a singularity hit them; they flailed about helpless as they were fired on by the Turian troops.

"Snipers focus all fire on the asari!" John yelled as he slid into cover by Jason. The others from the squad all took cover next to them.

"Jason take your fire team and move up to the trenches, ill take alpha around through a side door and try to get on their flank" John said "Terra squad I want you to get into the trenches, Whiskey squad on me!" John ordered over the radio. Jason turned and faced the other three spartans in his fire team; he held up three fingers and gave them a countdown. When his last finger dropped the four vaulted over the sandbags and charged down the stairs to the trenches. Jason snapped his rifle from one target to the next as he ran, enemies dropped as he fired. The other three spartans did the same as they charged the rangers on the stairs fell in step behind the rangers and the UNSC troops dropped into the trenches. Jason stood up and over the edge enough and started to crank out bursts of accurate fire. Carrero primed a grenade and threw it into the other side of the trench; the explosion reduced a few Turians to pulp. Darrel was hit a by a strange mass of purple energy and sent rocketing back into the trench, part of his armor looked as if it was melting. A ranger looked down and his head was vaporized by the same thing, Jason ducked down as one went soaring over his head.

"Nichole gets us some god damn fire support!" Jason ordered. The spartan stood again and started fired at an asari as she stood and glowed purple, the first two burst wrecked her shields and the third went through her body like hot knives through butter but the biotic attack she had sent hit Carrero and yanked out of the trench and into the no mans land. Jason sprang to action and jumped from the trench and grabbed a hold of the Spartan's foot and tried to pull him back into the trench. Jason suddenly heard his shields drop and he hit the ground as enemy fire soared overhead, Carrero fell back to the ground with a loud thump and quickly went prone. A Turian gunship soared by and shoot a rocket between the two of them, Carrero went flying into the trench. Jason felt the ground leave and he ended up still on top of the ground out of the safety that the trench system offered. His helmet had soared off and Jason could feel the shell shock, he had been trained to deal with this and quickly covered his head with his arms. He luckily had landed in a foxhole, he couldn't see his helmet but his rifle was next to him. Jason grabbed it and peaked over the edge of the foxhole and fired his weapon at the enemy. Rounds went tearing over his head and he dropped down, the shell shock was subsiding and he could feel a pain in his gut and right leg. He looked down and saw a large bit of shrapnel in his leg and he could tell that he had been hit in the stomach by a round from the enemy's weapons. Just then the fire support Nicole had called in arrived in the form of an airstrike that obliterated the other side of the trench. A group of rangers, marines and Nichole jumped from the trench. The spartan ran foreword to Jason and slid into the fox hole as the rangers and marines gave her covering fire.

"Its only a flesh wound you big baby!" Nichole yelled as she yanked the shrapnel from his leg and applied biofoam. The other humans surged foreword form the trench and to the other side where their enemies had once been. Turian artillery smashed into the tower, the stair case was full of large holes and the first few floors didn't have much in the way of walls now. Jason saw Carrero run up with his helmet, and crouch next to him, Jason felt the bio-foam seal his wounds.

"You will need this boss!" Carrero said as he ducked down and a small rocket zoomed over his head. Jason took the helmet and replaced it on his head, he grabbed his rifle and the three spartans straightened up and started to fire on the enemy. Darrel sprinted over and dived on the ground next to the spartans, he had one of the enemies machineguns in his hands and started to crank rounds form it.

"I think we should give them a taste of their own medicine!" Darrel said.

"Im starting to like you!" Jason said. He glanced to the right and saw Johns fire team and the whiskey squad moving up the street perpendicular to the one most of the fighting was taken place on or near. Jason motioned with his arm to the rest of the UNSC forces and they ran foreword to the front trench and joined their brothers and sisters in the front. The sound of Turian tanks firing joined the chaos as the rounds slammed into the no mans land behind the front most trench. Jason stood and fired the grenade launcher into a group of aliens; they were vaporized by the explosive. He heard the tell tale sound of swarmers being fired, more Turians and asari dropped. A group of marines was suddenly caught in a singularity, the asari looked at Jason and charged another one but he didn't see her. She didn't get to use the attack as she was knocked to the ground in a bloody mist.

"You're welcome Jason" Julie said through the comms.

"Thanks!" Jason said. The sound of needle repeaters joined the fray as the union troops flanked the force on the left side. Jason saw an Elite fire a burst from its weapon, a Turian was turned into a pin cushion before exploding in a pink cloud. Jason kept on shooting, human artillery smashed the area that the enemy was in. The ground seemed shaking as the Turians tanks; the artillery from both sides and the explosions of grenades and rockets filled the chorus of death. The battle had turned from a small counter assault into a full scale assault, the battle zone expanded as both sides began to try to out maneuver the other. Jason could here the screams of men on both sides dying, the high pitched yells from the asari and the strange scream of the Turians.

April 17th 3232, 1834 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest/ Turian fall back line:

Garrus ducked down as his weapon overheated, the human assault had not stopped yet and the death toll on both sides was mounting. Neither side had been able to gain any momentum; the humans had dealt a major blow to the citadel forces. Most of the biotics that had been deployed were dead, dying or missing at this point. The humans had figured out that biotics were the most dangerous and as such focused on any biotic first.

Garrus looked around; the building he had been fighting from was now nothing more than a shell of its former shelf. Blood stained the floors of the room; he could see bits of his comrades stuck on the wall.

"Form up on me!" Garrus yelled. A few Turians ran over and took cover near him, three asari did as well.

"Are you biotics!" Garrus asked.

"Yes, but im not going to let the humans know that!" one asari said "ill get sniped!"

"I know, I want you to send out singularities" Garrus said "you don't need to be that accurate just get them out there!"

"What's the point if we aren't aiming them?"

"They can serve as bullet sponges while we move up!" Garrus yelled over the roar of the battle.

"Ok, if I get sniped ill beat your ass Turian!" an asari said. Garrus peaked around the broken brick of the building and saw a human tank fire its cannon; the Turian ducked back eyes wide. The tanks shell smashed into a Turian tank on the other side of the building, the explosion lit up the darkening sky. Garrus grabbed the machine gun and held it so he could fire it from the hip as he had seen Xicar doing.

"On three!" Garrus said. Garrus charged the machinegun as he said "three!"

"Two!" the asari readied themselves, "One!" the female aliens stood and sent the biotic attacks flying before diving to the ground as a host of human fire came their way but the singularities protected them and the Turians charged foreword. Garrus slid behind a broken knee wall outside of a home, he saw one of the union troops stand to fire. He brought the machinegun to bear on the grunt and squeezed of a burst from the machinegun, the grunt was reduced to pulp as the rounds from the machinegun tore it apart. The other Turians and asari surged foreword, the human tanks destroyed some of them but the rest made it.

"Everyone, use singularities to protect our charge!" Garrus yelled to his comrades. The asari went to stand again a few were killed but the three that had joined Garrus had managed to not get hit. The Turians surged foreword, they fired their weapons but the charge was very short as the human's surged foreword as well and the two enemies closed the distance between them. Garrus set up the machinegun and started to put heavy volumes of fire on to the human and union troops. Garrus was knocked to the ground as human artillery shells smashed into the grounds; the force knocked him to the ground. Other Turians, asari and even a few Krogan were reduced to bits as the rounds hit them, the Turians weren't gaining momentum but had began to advance. Vector fired his grenade launcher into a group of humans, the explosion cleared out an alley way.

"Follow me!" Garrus ordered as he picked the machine gun up again and ran foreword to the alley way. He held the trigger on the weapon, the rounds put up a wall of metal in front of him and his squad as they advanced. Elite came out from behind a piece of a broken wall and raised an energy sword; Garrus turned the gun on the large alien and fired till the alien was a wriggling mass of flesh. He felt his barriers drop and then his legs give as a round smashed into his knee. A human tank fired its weapon and sent the Turian soaring, he smashed into a brick wall; he could feel blood swimming in his head and in his ears. He couldn't hear that well and his head felt like it was being split open.

Tenvo ran over and grabbed a hold of Garrus and dragged him to cover, Garrus coughed blood up as he tried to speak to Tenvo. Garrus couldn't talk only stare out into space, he watched as the surge foreword by the Turians was halted. Garrus lay there in pain as the two sides fought it out.

April 17th 3232, 2021 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest/ Toshiba tower area:

Jason sprinted and slid behind burning scorpion tanks wreckage. His leg throbbed with pain but the adrenaline and bio-foam numbed the pain some what but it still hurt him to run. He saw John and the rest of the squad on the other side of the street. The other three members of bravo fire team ran and took cover with Jason.

"We are being over run!" Jason said.

"I know the position is lost, im ordering everyone out of here!" John said "but we need to get to our sniper team and extract them!"

"All right!" Jason said. He peaked around his cover and aimed at a Turian and dropped the alien.

"Command the position is lost and we are surrounded we need immediate extraction now!" John said.

"Roger that, sierra 1" the radio operator said "we will get you all the pelicans we can"

"Thanks send some more air support if you can!" John said. Jason sprinted to where the rest of the squad was and gave the other three members of his fire team covering fire as they moved to join the squad. More human fighters flew over head and dropped ordnance on the enemy, Jason looked at John. He gave them the hand signs to stack up on the door, Jason nodded and took his prosecution on the left side of the door. He kicked it down and the squad moved in, there were no Turians in the building. The squad moved silently to the elevator shaft, John wrenched the door open and saw the elevator was one floor below them.

"Julie, Maria, we are coming to extract you" John said.

"Ok, be quick I can here the enemy nearby" Julie whispered.

"Ok, we got move quick and I don't want to fight our way to the top, so we climb the cables" John said. Jason nodded and jumped to the first cable and hooked his legs around it, the magnets in his boots clamped to it and he began to climb up the steel cables. The other spartans followed him up the cable. Jason grunted every time he had to push with his legs as pain shot up his leg or when he his stomach area twisted it hurt but he pressed on.

April 17th 3232, 2015 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest/ Julie and Maria's sniper position:

Julie took aim through the scope of her spartan rifle, she watched as Turian tanks pummeled the human positions. Pelicans landed on behind the tower, human troops quickly boarded them and the dropships took off. Julie switched her focus onto one of the tanks, she took aim and Maria whispered next to her.

"Two minutes left, one up" Maria said "fire when ready"

Julie pulled the trigger on the rifle, the suppressor made the weapon quieter but the Turians and whatever else was in the building could here the shots. The massive round smashed into the tank and exploded killing the driver.

"Julie, pack it up we need to get out of here" Maria said as she stood and place the spotting scope in its place. Julie nodded and pulled the bolt back on the rifle, she pulled the magazine free and placed it one the ground it was empty any way. She quickly removed the barrel and placed the two pieces of the rifle on her back. Maria nodded and shouldered her silenced SMG, Julie did the same. Maria slowly opened the door and stepped into the hallway; Julie stepped out and covered the other end of the hallway.

"Use your cloaking" Julie said. The two spartans seemed to vanish into the air; a Turian fire team came around the corner and scanned the hall with flashlights. Julie and Maria took aim at the aliens but they headed into an empty room. The spartans slunk back along the hall and came to an elevator door; they stayed as still as possible.

"Julie, we are in the elevator shaft" Jason said.

"What?" Julie said.

"Open the elevator door please" Jason said. Julie silently as possible stood and grabbed a hold of one side of the door, Maria took the other and they pulled the door open. Jason swung out into the hallway, the rest of the squad followed. The Turians came back out of the room obviously the noise had alerted them, but they were quickly killed by a forty millimeter grenade from Jason's gun.

"Great work now they all know where we are" Maria said. The rest of the squad climbed out of the shaft, John looked around quickly before barking out orders.

"Move it, we need to get to the roof now" John said. The squad moved down the hall to their right, they passed by offices that had seen better days. They walked as silently as possible down the hall, John held up his hand and signaled the squad to stop. The storm that had been brewing all day finally came around and rain started to pour. The water came into the building through a hole in the side of the building from a tanks shell or an artillery shell. A flash of lightening light the area, shadows of the humans enemies appeared on the walls. They were in the hall to the left of the spartans; John primed a grenade and counted to three before tossing it around the corner. The sound of yelling and lots of movement broke the silence followed by an explosion. The spartans tore around the corner, Jason aimed at a Turian who was crawling and fired. The other aliens were dead or dying, the spartans put them out of their misery and agony as the walked down the hall. Jason took aim at an asari; the aliens looked close to being human. She had blue skin, her weapon lay to far away for her to be any threat. She had bright blue eyes and Jason could see the life fading from them, he tried to take aim but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The girl looked young, maybe all of twenty and Jason just couldn't pull the trigger.

"Angelica, see what you can do for her" Jason said.

"Why? She is the enemy" Angelica asked "you lost it or something just end her suffering"

"Fix her up that's an order" Jason said. Angelica looked at John; the other spartans glanced back and forth between the three of them. Cale finally spoke up.

"Just help her, if we take her back we can get intelligence from her" Cale said.

"Good point, Angelica help the alien how ever you can" John said "Everyone else for a perimeter and watch for more patrols"

Angelica walked past Jason and shook her head then set to work trying to help the young asari warrior. Jason crouched next to Carrero; the Hispanic spartans glanced at him once before sighting down his weapon.

"I agree with you Jason" Carrero said "I wouldn't be able to do it either"

"Thanks for understanding Carrero" Jason said. The spartans sat in silence for a few minutes before Angelica spoke up again.

"I did what I could but she needs a hospital" the medic said.

"Jason you carry her, this was your idea" John said. Jason nodded and picked the asari up bridal style. The spartans walked down the hallway, the sounds of the battle outside had subsided.

"Sierra 1, this is command"

"Go ahead" John said.

"You are the only squad left in the area; you need to get to a serviceable LZ"

"Roger that, we are headed for the roof of the building we are currently in" John said.

"Understood we will have a pelican come and pick you up"

Jason felt the asari stir a bit the bio-foam had sealed her wounds; Jason looked down at the young alien maiden. She was obviously in pain, her eyes were closed and Jason could tell she was in pain. The squad had reached a stair case, John opened the door and they moved up the flight of steps to the roof door.

"Julie, Maria scout the area" John said. The two snipers activated their cloaking device and stepped out to the roof. They quickly scanned the roof; no hostiles were present so they signaled the others to move out from the hallway. The eight other spartans moved to the roof and stayed low, Jason lay the asari down against the edge wall of the roof before taking his rifle and scanned the area. The rain poured down but the fires that covered the ground and wrecked buildings still blazed, the area around the tower was littered with bodies, debris and foxholes from the artillery and tanks.

"Holy shit" Julie said "I didn't think we could lose"

"Well they proved you wrong" Darrel said.

"We will be back; we won't give the planet up that easily. Once we get more support on the ground we will be able to take back the city" John said. Jason sat down as the rain continued to pour down on them.

"How you holding up Jason?" Angelica asked.

"Ill be fine, it just hurts" Jason said smiling a bit "nothing it can't handle"

"Command what's the ETA on that ride out of here?" John asked.

"Ten minutes, till then we want you to call in coordinates for artillery strikes"

"Understood" John said "Nicole, Darrel, Carrero and Maria start calling in the steel rain"

Jason watched the door back into the building; he could hear Turians inside of the structure. He aimed his rifle and signaled the squad, they all took aim at the door way.

"Jason take care of that patrol" John said. Jason signaled for the spartans to form up on him. Angelica, Cale and Yazid formed up behind Jason and they walked low across the roof to the door. Jason silently walked down the steps and back into the building, he pressed himself against the edge of the doorway that lead back into the hall. He peaked around the corner; he could see a Turian patrol walking down the hall their weapons at the ready. One of the big lizard aliens was leading them; it walked with to much of a swagger for Jason. The spartan primed a plasma grenade, he had picked them up from a dead elite. He tossed it and heard the lizard alien roar as the blue death ball stuck to its flesh. The hall was lit up in a blue light as the alien was reduced to a pulpy mess, the Turian patrol ducked behind cover. The four spartans stepped into the hallway and started to put rounds down the hallway, more Turians came around the corner and joined the fray. The Turians kept advancing down the hallway, Jason heard his shields drop and he was behind cover.

"They are disabling our shields some how!" Yazid said.

"I noticed, fall back to the roof!" Jason said. He tossed two frag grenades down the hall way, as soon as they went off the spartans sprinted up the stairs. Jason slammed the door shut and leaned up against it, Yazid joined him.

"They brought lots of friends!" Jason yelled to his brother. Yazid looked at Jason; he could see blood leaking from the wounds in Jason's chest.

"Jason your wounds are opening again" Yazid said.

"Ill be fine" Jason said. Just then something really big smashed into the door but the spartans were able to keep the door in place.

"Keep that door closed, we got one minute till the pelican gets here!" John ordered. Just then a gunship went soaring overhead and sprayed the roof with gunfire. The spartans scrambled as the rounds impacted the ground. It circled around and came around for another pass, Cale watched it closely and as it passed over the roof he tossed a plasma grenade up. The device stuck to the gunships engine and it went spinning out of control when its wing like engine was enveloped in a blue explosion. The thing on the other side of the door slammed into it again. Jason grunted from the pain, but he and Yazid held the door shut again.

"Julie, Maria set up your mines in front of the door" John ordered the two snipers. The two went to work quickly laying their M023 claymore mines. The pelican dropship came soaring into view with two long swords flanking it.

"Jason, you go first!" Yazid said. Jason nodded and went running for the edge of the building. He picked the asari up; she was still too weak to move much on her own. The drop ship swung around and moved closed to the roof. Jason stepped on first and set the asari down in the seat of the pelican, the other spartans ran on.

"Yazid lets go!" John said.

"Right boss man!" the Muslim spartan said before kicking the door once and sprinted to the drop ship. He jumped for it and landed in the squad bay just as the door went flying of its hinges and another Krogan came charging out from the door. The mines went off and it roared as it received massive wounds from the exploding devices. John and Cale were at the end of the pelican's troop bay and started to fire at the Turians as they ran onto the roof of the building. The drop ship soared off into the rainy night away from the battle zone.

"We are taking you back to the main base we have set up" the pilot said "Command is planning a massive offensive on the Turians foreword line"

"Good, we aren't giving up with out a fight" Jason said as he sat down and took his helmet off.

"Yeah, we linked up with the union forces and we now have most of our tanks and support on the ground. I can tell you right now the offensive is going to be huge"

"What about here? They retook their old command post. Our job was pointless" Darrel said.

"You can't win them all Darrel, despite them retaking their command post they won't be able to use most of the equipment and we killed more of them than they did us" Angelica said.

"We will be back don't worry" John said "and I want us at the front"

The sound of some one wrenching drew everyone's attention as Jason threw up what ever rations he had eaten earlier and some blood. Angelica was over to him in a flash, she helped him lay down on his side.

"Im going to give you some morphine for the pain" Angelica said "all right tough guy?"

Jason nodded, the adrenaline was leaving his system and he could feel the wounds more now. Angelica injected him with the pain reliving medicine, Jason coughed again and more blood and puke came up.

"Angle what is wrong with him?" John asked the medic.

"The bio-foam was broken down some and the wounds are unsealing, I think some got in to his stomach which explains the puke" Angelica said "its real painful but not fatal, I applied more bio-foam which will prevent any chance of bleeding out and his armors medical suites will help as well"

April 17th 3232, 2034 SMT/ Heaven/ Turian line:

Garrus felt himself get lifted up on a stretcher; he could see his squad mates picking up a stretcher that they had lay him on. The Turians carried him to an APC and placed him on the floor next to other wounded troops, Garrus looked around he was still in great pain.

"Stay strong Garrus" Tenvo said "Be seeing you soon buddy"

The doors on the APC closed and it went of towards the rear of the Turian line. The lumbering vehicle made to much noise, it made Garrus head hurt more. He coughed more blood up drawing the medic's attention. The Turian came over, and placed a hand on Garrus shoulder as the Turian coughed some blood up.

"Hang in there buddy, we will have you back on your feet in no time" the medic said. Garrus just groaned in suffering as the APC hit a bump. The ride seemed to take forever to the wounded young boy as he rode back, Garrus thought about what his father would say. How much his family would miss him, we had to keep fighting he couldn't let them down. The APC pulled up to the medical tent that was set up in the Turian camp in the city, the doors opened and Garrus could feel the cold rain blowing into the APC. A group of Turians picked the stretcher up and carried him out and into a medical tent; they put him down on an operating table. A field doctor attached him to monitors, and other medical equipment.

"Well, you have repute red sinus's and a major concussion" the doctor said. Garrus just nodded in response, his head hurt way too much to try to speak.

"Im going to put a light shield over your eyes so we keep the concussion from getting worse" the doctor said "you will be off this world soon and on your way to recovery I promise"

Another medic came up to the doctor and said something to the doctor; Garrus was just able to hear it.

"Sir, Xicar just passed" the medic said. The doctor sighed and looked down cast but he quickly smiled and turned to Garrus.

"Get so rest if you can, Garrus and we will get you all better" the doctor said smiling as a tear rolled down his face. The doctor activated a button on the table and the light in the section went out and he closed the curtain. Garrus was shocked but the realization hit him and he cried as he realized another young Turian youth had been cut down in the war that should not be happening.

**Please read and review. Also the poll is still open so vote on that please as well.**


	13. Anthem of the Angels

**So, I only got two reviews for the last chapter. I hope that I can get some more for this chapter. I did however get reviews for other chapters which is nice. Disclaimer for this chapter. First we see Yazid reject his religion by shooting a book, this is in no way an attempt to insult the Muslim people. Second the humans have taken to calling the Turians "Turks" again not an attack on any people of Turkish decent.**

**Please read and review. **

April 17th 3232, 0124 SMT/ Citadel/ Chora's Den:

Trexo walked into the den of vice, young asari dancers were up on the stage on a bar wearing next to nothing. Others danced on tables in front of nearly drooling drunken customers. Trexo walked up to the bar and sat down on the stool, the bartender walked up a young female Turian.

"Well, is there any thing I can get you" the Turians women said in a flirting manor.

"Something stiff" Trexo said. The bartender smiled and grabbed a bottle from under the counter, the doors of the club opened again. A beautiful asari walked in through the doors, she walked over and sat down next to Trexo. The Turian bartender slid his drink to him; Trexo caught it and took a long swig.

"So, what is a big strong solider boy doing in this seedy bar?" the asari asked. Trexo looked at her; she had purple skin and wore a long dress.

"I don't know, what is a beautiful asari doing down in a seedy bar? Should be obvious why a solider is" Trexo said. The asari laughed, it was one of the most beautiful things Trexo had heard on quite a long time.

"Women?" the asari asked as she scooted closer to Trexo and placed a hand on his lap.

"No, forget" Trexo said gesturing for another drink. He downed the one he had in his hand, he slammed the glass down.

Trexo looked at her, and ordered another drink which the bartender slid his second drink down the table. Trexo plucked the glass of the bar and downed the drink before nodding to the asari.

"I need some more drink first" Trexo said.

"Well, let a thankful citizen buy a solider a drink" the asari said. She ordered two more drinks. The bartender dropped them off, Trexo took his and sipped it a bit his eyes glued to the asari as she took a drink and licked her lips. The two flirted and talked for at least half an hour before the asari leaned asari leaned in closer to his ear, and whispered so only Trexo could hear it.

The couple stood up, the asari hanging off of the Turians arm, Trexo didn't notice as two Turians in the corner of the bar watched his every move.

"Dexor, report"

"There is not much to report, Trexo is just trying to cope" Dexor said "he just left the bar"

"Then follow him" Nithlo said.

"He left with an asari hanging off his arm, I think I know where he is going" Dexor said.

"All right, leave him be" Nithlo said "buy your self some drinks and have a good night"

Trexo was leaded by the asari to a car, she activated the cars hatch and the two stepped inside. The hatch closed and the vehicle took off for the skyline, the asari set it to auto pilot.

"From what you told me over the net, this is very serious" Senryn said.

"Yes, the councilor and some of the highest ranking generals from the hierarchy and the homogony are making bids for power with what remain of humanities old enemies" Trexo said "I though the specters could help me end it"

"So you come to me? Look I was a specter once, and I still have friends but if I go to them with this they won't believe me" Senryn said "besides half of the force are Turians and in the Turian councilors pocket"

"Great, so what other options we have?" Trexo asked.

"You want to see them brought down, there's one group that is going to be doing that" Senryn said "you should be sober when you hear it though"

"Yeah, having clear judgment is probley a good idea" Trexo said and leaned on Senryn.

"Easy there just because I bought you a drink doesn't mean you get laid tonight solider boy"

"Senryn you bought me six" Trexo said.

April 21st 3232, 0924 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC line:

Dear Kat,

I miss you so much; I don't even know how to write down how much I miss you.

We have only been here for four days and its already becoming a new definition of hell. I can't even look up from writing this letter with out seeing wounded men being carried by. I don't even know where to begin to describe any of it, there is no glory in this place, no happiness just sorrow and pain. Some of the men are already beginning to crack, including Jason. We were evacing through a building and he had us save an asari solider, she had been messed up bad. Our squad's medic, one of the kindest people I know who is willing to help any one said to leave her. She died on the pelican ride home, the girl couldn't hold on any longer. I haven't been mush to believe in spiritual sort of things but I swore I could see Jason's soul die with her. Its as if his humanity was tied to saving this one life, he doesn't talk much now just sits, stares and smokes more now than he did before. The other squad members are cracking a bit to, even me. It's getting harder to sleep; I can't believe how bad this is getting.

Love, John

Jason placed the cigar to his lips and took a long draw on it. He held the smoke in his mouth before letting it out, it raised into the sky before breaking apart. The sky was gray, and a cold wind blew across the ground. The wind rustled Jason's hair and chilled his skin but he just ignored it. Carrero was policing dead Turians and asari; he crouched next to one of the older looking Turians and looked at him closely.

"Well, shit this ones got some shiny looking teeth" Carrero said.

"What? Let me check that out" Maria said. She crouched next to the Turian and looked into its mouth, her eyes got wide as she looked.

"I think that's platinum" Maria said. Carrero drew his knife and shrugged before taking the blade and began to dig in the alien's mouth. Black blood ran over his armored hands as he dug the teeth out, he looked at them and offered them to Maria.

"yeah, that would be platinum" Maria said "looks like even Turians get cavities, im going to go check some more"

Maria walked a few feet away before she yanked another Turians jaw open, she pulled her knife from its sheath and set about mining the metal from the creatures mouth. Jason took another draw from his cigar before walking over to the edge of the wrecked building that they were on, he looked out and could see the Turian line a half mile away.

He looked across the battle field and saw marines doing the same as Carrero and Maria were doing, all the human and union troops bodies had been removed.

"What do you think command is working up to break through that line?" Julie asked. Jason took another puff before ashing the cigar.

"No idea, what ever it is it better be good" Jason said. He turned back and looked at the squad, they looked like hell. Dirt and grim covered the spartans faces, despite the helmets they still found a way to get the grim of war all over their faces. Nichole was busy playing with her knife; Carrero and Maria were mining still. John was busy writing a letter as he sat on top of a rubble pile; Cale was staring of into space a cigarette trapped between his lips. Yazid had gone back for something but he was no walking and he came up the stairs. He had a book in his hand; the Muslim sat down and placed the book next to him.

"Yazid, I thought you would be praying since you missed this morning" Darrel said from where he stood near a brick wall. Yazid just looked at him some what down cast; he took the book and threw it as far as it would go. He drew his pistol and shot it before the book hit the ground some officer from the back yelled out.

"Cease fire!"

Yazid just holstered his pistol and sat back down. Darrel sighed before leaning up against the wall, it had seen better days and that was obvious when it fell in to a room. The spartan squad was on their feet and had weapons pointed at the now gaping hole in the wall, on the other side was three Turians that had obviously been hiding. The spartans all had their weapons pointed at the aliens, they went to put their hands up but the squad opened fire on them. The three Turians didn't know what happened as the rounds tore into them; their barriers broke almost instantly as the amount of gunfire being poured into the room would drop a Krogan in seconds. A marine officer came running up the stairs, he was obviously pissed off and angry.

"I said cease fire what the hell do you think you are doing!" the officer yelled at the spartans.

"Killing Turks, what else would we be doing?" Carrero said as he lowered his weapon. The three Turians lay bleeding on the ground, their weapons were no weren't in their hands.

"They were trying to surrender!" the marine yelled at the spartans. Jason walked over to the man and blew a puff of smoke in to his face. The man closed his eyes and coughed a bit before yelling at the spartan.

"I want your name and serial number now!"

"My name is fuck you and my serial number is fuck off" Jason said making the spartans laugh "get back to the back you rear echelon fuck"

"Excuse me? I am an officer and you will respect me!" the officer yelled "I said Name and Number, Now!"

"And I said fuck off" Jason said. The spartan walked over to a chunk of the wall and sitting down, leaving the marine fuming mad.

"You, what is his name and number?" the marine asked pointing to Carrero.

"Sorry sir, no I no speako the englisho" Carrero said in an over done Hispanic accent. The officer stomped off and left the spartans alone. Carrero went over to one of the Turians and looked into the alien's mouth; he saw what he was looking for and drew his knife. The Turian was still alive and started to squirmed but Yazid walked over to the alien, drew his side arm and shot the enemy solider in the head.

"There that will make it easier" Yazid said.

"God, Carrero every thing has to be Snafu with you doesn't it?" Darrel said "that's what we should call you from now one, Snafu"

"Well, if we are giving nicknames what is yours than Darrel?" Nicole asked him "I think little prick might work well"

"Fuck you"

The squad chuckled at the two joking; Jason took the last draw on his cigar before placing it on the chunk of rubble he was sitting on to go out. The sound of footsteps drew the spartans attention.

"Better not be that damn rear echelon fuck again" Angelica said. It wasn't, instead two spartans walked up the steps. They were from terra squad, one was name Sledge but every one called him sledgehammer. The other was the squad leader named Leckie; Sledge was fairly lanky for a spartan and had a pipe in his mouth. Leckie was taller than most of the guys in the company and had been nicknamed "Peaches" after he had eaten a whole case of peaches on Shanxi.

"Sledgehammer, Peaches" John said "what's up?"

"Not much John, Ack-Ack wants all spartans to meet with him in ten minutes. I think that command has finally finished its master plan, one guess where we are" Leckie said.

"Yeah, all right lets get going" Jason said picking up his rifle from next to him and lead the squad from the top of the building. John quickly folded up his letter and put it in one of his pockets and followed up the rear of the squad.

April 18th 3232, 1115 SMT/ Turian medical frigate/ medical bay four:

Garrus lay in his rack; he had bandages around the cuts on his face from when he was smashed into the wall. He still had a hard time hearing but he was slowly getting it back more and more. He had a data pad in front of him and was reading an article in the newspaper; it was about the battle on Heaven. The door opened and he saw three Turian officers walk in, they had their dress uniforms on. Garrus didn't pay attention all that much and just kept on reading the article. The officers walked down the center of the room passed the wounded Turians to they came to Garrus's bed. One of them looked down at Garrus, his eyes were red and he had bandages on his face. Garrus looked like hell; he felt like hell and wanted to be left alone.

"Sargent Vakarian"

Garrus put the newspaper down and looked up at the officers, one held out his hand.

"My name is Pavilor" the officer said. Garrus shock the other mans hand as well as he could, the officer smiled.

"A pleasure to meet you sir" Garrus managed to croak out. Pavilor produced a box from his uniforms pockets and opened it up so Garrus could see inside of it. A silver star gleamed up at him attached to a dark blue ribbon; the highest medal that a Turian could get was being presented to him the medal of valor.

"You are here by awarded the medal of valor for your heroic actions on Heaven in helping to break the enemy lines" Pavilor said before taking the medal and looping the medal around Garrus's neck. He snapped to a salute, the other officers did the same.

"I wish more of my men were like you, good work trooper" Pavilor said before leading the other officers from the room. Garrus stared at the medal; he was dumbstruck that he got anything at all. He didn't want to believe it, _I don't deserve it, I just did my job_ Garrus thought. His mind started to drift back to the battle and he quickly picked the data pad up and dived back into reading. He didn't want to even think about the battle at all ever again, he had to find something to keep him busy.

April 18th 3232, 1234 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest:

The scorpion tank rolled foreword, John walked behind it leading his squad of spartans and a platoon of marines down the street to the Turian line. The plan was for the artillery to fire on the line while the tanks moved in closer and provided cover for the infantry to get into firing positions. The tanks would then keep moving foreword as the three reaper gunships would target any enemy tank and pound the Turian line as the infantry moved up and took ground. The artillery had been going at it for while, and they were nearing the point were they had to break off and start moving up with out the tanks. They had been given heavier weapons and one of the marine squads had a machinegun in it, two of John's squad carried the flamethrowers. The flame unit had been designed to be more streamlined, a tank had a thick shell and the hose was attached to the user's rifle like a grenade launcher. The roar of gunfire filled the air as they reached the battle area, John crouched down as the tank stopped moving and fired. He looked around the corner and saw that the Turian line was wavy, a machine gun nest was more foreword than the rest of the line and was set up in the first floor of a small house, rubble was pilled in front of the walls to make it absorb more damage. He saw the union moving up farther down on the right; they were trying to pinch on a section of the Turians defensive line to basically rip a hole into it. He grabbed the small radio on the back of the tank and called into the commander.

"Machine gun nest, at your one take it out!" John ordered. The scorpion turned its turret and fired, the shell exploded and the fire from the nest stopped.

"All right, listen up!" John yelled "I want the machine gun and mortar squad to set up back here and give us covering fire! Jason takes your fire team and a squad of marines to the left, ill take mine right!" An enemy artillery shell smashed into a building nearby and the screams of dying marines reached their ears.

"We are going to pinch that machine gun nest, keep your heads down and leap frog foreword!" John said and peaked around the tank again "Move it out!"

John ran and kept bent over as best he could the other spartans followed him along with a marine squad. He leaned up against the remains of a wrecked Turian tank; the top of it was missing. Rounds pinged all around the humans as they took cover; John peaked around the corner and saw a Turian pressed against a wall. He was taking pot shots; John sighted down and fired off a burst from the MA37. The Turian jumped back but rounds suddenly smashed all around John as the others turned to face him.

"Okay, fire team three move up to that ditch along the road!" John yelled out "Covering fire, now!" John popped out from cover along with the other three spartans and the six other marines. They fired onto where the Turian positions, the aliens dropped back down but some were killed from the fire as the four marines moved up and dove into the ditch. A Turian with a rocket launcher took aim at the marines but his chest erupted as Julie spotted him. John went back behind cover, he checked his rifle and found he had six rounds left and popped back around and saw a Turian running between two buildings. He fired all the rounds and the Turian hit the ground, wounded but not dead.

"Spartans move up!" the marine sergeant yelled, his name was Neibecker "We got you covered!"

John looked around and saw another median ditch on the other side of the road, there were two roads on the other side was wrecked houses, destroyed to the point that some were just basements now. The nest was at least seventy five yards down range, John grimaced.

"Ok, Spartans move to the second ditch!" John yelled "Now!"

The four spartan soldiers broke out from their cover and sprinted as fast as they could, the machine gun nest had been remained and it sprayed rounds at the advancing troops. John slid across the last few feet and into the ditch followed closely by Cale, Angelica, and Yazid. The spartans got up to the edge and started to fire at the Turians, the machine gun turned to them and started to pin them in place.

"We got to get across this road and into that cover on the other side!" Yazid yelled out.

"I know!" John yelled out.

"Sargent that guns got us all pinned down!" John yelled the message reached Neibecker through the commline.

"I noticed!" Neibecker said.

"Everyone pop smoke and then move across the street and get to the cover on the other side before the gun tears us up!" Cale ordered. John nodded and pulled a smoke grenade from inside a pouch on his armor; he took the pin out and held the handle on to keep it from going off.

"On my mark!" Cale yelled out "mark!"

The spartans and marines tossed the smoke grenades out, the machine gun started to spray widely in the area.

"Stay prone when you move across the street!" John yelled out. The spartans climbed from the ditch and saw the smoke spreading across the street, the rounds from the machine gun soared overhead as the gunner expected them to be running. They crawled, keeping as low as possible. Marines followed behind them, Turian artillery smashed down into the area around them and the entire battle zone. A shell hit the street, two marines screamed out before being blown apart.

"Move faster!" John yelled. He got up to a low run and sprinted to a broken wall, the machine gun switched its fire to the spartans. John felt Yazid slam into the wall next to him, Cale and then Angelica took cover.

"On three we all move up and draw that guns fire so the marines can get across the street!" John yelled. The others nodded; he held up three fingers and counted down to go time. At one the four of them leapt over the wall and ran foreword firing at any Turian who was out of cover. A few of the aliens dropped and the gun turned to them, it fired at the sprinting armored soldiers as they ran. John jumped into a hole in the ground that was a basement of a home before. The walls were only five feet high; the area that they were fighting in right now was a lower income area. John looked around and saw the marines had made it across expect for the two and were now firing on the Turians. John saw Jason's group moving up closer to the machine gun nest.

"Marines move up!" John ordered. The spartans stood and started to crank out more covering fire for the marines. John saw an asari go to send a biotic attack at the marines, he squeezed the trigger into quick bursts. The asari didn't get her attack off before at least eleven plasma encased rounds tore apart her shields and body; she dropped to the ground in a bloody mass behind the car she was using for cover before. The marines sprinted past the spartans and up into the ruins of a house's first floor. John snapped his weapon from target to target as the Turians and asari rose up to fire on the humans.

"Major we got you covered move up!" Neibecker yelled. John clambered out of the basement and the three spartans ran foreword keeping low. John dove into a foxhole created by an artillery shell in the back yard of the house that the marines were firing from. Cale went farther foreword and slid behind a broken knee wall, Angelic went into the marine's position and wet to work on a wounded man. Yazid stopped in the same foxhole as John, they both ducked as the gun riddled the area with gunfire. John heard a flamethrower fire up; screams of burning enemies filled the air. John looked up and saw Jason filling the viewport that the Turians had made out of a window with flame. He could hear Jason yelling as he did.

"Burn you mother fuckers!" Jason yelled. Some of the aliens came running out in flame to get gunned down by the marines, they yelled at the dying enemy.

"Die you fucking Turks, die!" a marine yelled as he riddled the Turians that were rolling around on fire with gunfire. John took cover against a broken up wall of a building nearby the nest, all the other men did as well.

"Command this is sierra 1, we are at the Turian line and have broken through!" John yelled as more artillery rained down and the buzz of the miniguns on the three reapers over head filled the chorus of war.

"Roger that, continue to advance in ward"

John rallied everyone up, the machine gun team and mortar team ran up to them from across the street.

"We are pushing in further! Watch your backs and keep leap frogging, there're more Turks on the other side!" John yelled out. The squads moved up and further into the hellish war tormented city.

April 18th 3232, 1523 SMT/ Citadel:

Trexo walked down the hallway of the Turian military base, he was going to meet with Nithlo. He knocked on the door to the general's office; he wore his dress uniform and had done his best to make himself seem eager to join.

"Come in" Nithlo said. Trexo opened the door and stepped inside the office; it was well decorated and had nice looking furnishings. Trexo sat himself down in the chair across the desk from where Nithlo sat; he clipped a small electronic device discreetly to the bottom of the desk.

"Trexo what can I do for you?" Nithlo asked smiling.

"I thought more about your offer and I want in, im willing to do what it takes to put the Turians on top" Trexo said.

"Well, I am happy. There are very few true patriots left wouldn't you say?" Nithlo said standing and offered his hand. Trexo took it and gave it a good shake.

"What about a drink?" Nithlo asked smiling.

"Sure, that would be quite nice" Trexo said. Nithlo nodded and walked over to a small cabinet and produced a bottle of batarian ale. He took out two glasses and ice; he started to prepare the drinks as he talked with Trexo.

"Nothing like a drink to make one forget the horrors of war" Nithlo said as he poured the liquor "or a fine women"

"Yes sir, I would agree" Trexo said. Nithlo smiled as he turned and offered the Turian his drink.

"Seems you had some forgetting to do last night" Nithlo said.

"Uh, sir?" Trexo asked.

"A friend of mine recognized you in Chora's den, told me he saw you leave with an asari" Nithlo said.

"Ah, yes" Trexo said "she is an old friend"

"Judging by the smell of perfume on your uniform I would say she is more than a friend" Nithlo said and raised his glass "a toast to a new age"

Trexo smiled and clanked glasses with the general; they sipped their drinks and delved into conversation.

April 18th 3232, 1723 SMT Heaven/ Adamscrest:

Jason walked along the street with his rifle at the ready. His fire team followed behind him along with a marine squad. They were headed to a Turian radio outpost that had been identified, they were to take it out and hold position till told otherwise. Jason saw John hold a fist for everyone to stop, the group went to cover. The area of the city they were in was getting into the center more and taller buildings were becoming far more common. The constant bombardment had taken its toll and some structures had fallen over and broken apart. The streets were full of rubble and other obstacle but those things made great cover. Jason ran over to his brother, John pulled up his TACPAD and examined the map.

"I think that, that building right there is the post" John said. He pointed to Julie and Maria, they moved up to join them in the alley they had taken cover in for the moment.

"I think that is the radio post there, command wants us to paint the target for an airstrike but I want to be sure that is it first" John said. Julie hefted her rifle and peaked around the corner with and zoomed in on the structure, the building was broken in three parts. The first part was fine, the part in the middle leaned against the tower next to it and the smallest section seemed to defy physics and stay on top of the bent area.

"Tell you what if that are in deed it then the airstrike will do a lot of damage" Julie said "We will scout it out"

Julie and Maria seemed to vanish, John watched as their IFF's moved foreword.

"Weapons squad set up on the roof of that building right there" John said pointing to the three story store across the street from him and Jason. The ten marines nodded and moved into the building, John scanned the area.

"John, that place is most definitely the radio post" Julie said "we are painting the target now"

"Roger that Julie" John said. Jason peaked around the edge as John started to call in the airstrike. The corner of the building exploded near Jason's face as a Turian sniper missed his mark by a hairs breath. Jason snapped back and the area became a buzz of gunfire, the Turians defiantly knew that the humans were here now.

"Jason I got the sniper position" Julie said. A loud boom echoed through the streets, Jason took the opportunity to move to different cover.

"Squad one move up to the sniper team!" Jason yelled "Everyone else covering fire now!"

The spartans and other marine squad started to pour fire onto then enemy as the first squad moved up. The thump of the mortar joined the fray and the Turian positions began to explode. Jason aimed down the sight again, he saw a few Turians firing from around the edge of what remained of a garbage truck. He squeezed three burst from his BR57 into the aliens. One was killed and the other two dropped down quickly to avoid death from the hail of bullets that rained form either side like a storm. John ran up and crouched next to Jason, he fired his weapon as he went.

"Air strike in thirty seconds!" John said just before the building that the mortar team had set up in exploded from a gunship that soared in overhead.

"Cale use that laser and take it out!" Jason yelled. The spartan pulled the laser from his back and took aim on the gunship. Jason stood again and fired burst of rounds at a group of Turians that were advancing. He missed as his shoots went wide before his shields flared up from an enemy machine gun. Jason glanced over when he heard Nicole yell out as a biotic attack hit her in the chest, she fell over.

"Cover me, im going for Nicole!" Jason yelled out. All the marines and spartans broke cover at once and poured fire into the Turian positions as Jason ran foreword keeping low. He grabbed a hold of Nicole's arm as he did and started to drag her towards cover. A sniper shot was heard and Nicole's head jerked as the round went through her skull. Jason dove for cover and pressed himself against it. He stood to fire but ducked down as the area was suddenly hit by missiles and bombs as three long swords flew over head. The building sections that had stayed up no longer did and they came tumbling down, the Turian position became a death zone as the fighters circled around and dropped more ordnance. After the bombing stopped the group stood up, all the enemies had been obliterated by the ordinance. Jason walked over to Nicole's body and yanked off her blood soaked dog tags; He closed his fist around them and put them in a pocket. He took of his helmet and fell down to his knees. The marines were wide eyed as the spartans started to break down in tears.

"Command, this is sierra 1" John said "radio post is destroyed, we need evac"

"Roger that, what is your status?"

"We lost a marine squad and one spartan" John said down cast.

"Understood, that is acceptable" the radio operator said "lets get you back to base"

"Acceptable huh?" Carrero said "fucking figures"

"Yeah, acceptable loses what the fuck is that shit?" Cale said. Darrel just shook his head before he spoke up.

"Yeah, Snafu" Darrel said "its all fucked up"

"Looks like you are starting to realize that" John said. Neibecker walked over, Jason finally collected himself and put his helmet back on and stood up. The marine went over to the spartans body and took off her helmet. Her head was intact save for the hole in her forehead, the marine closed her eyes.

**Please read and review.**


	14. Fever Dream

**I got five reviews for the last chapter, mostly a good reception. A few pointed out that the chapter left a bad taste in their mouth, which is understandable. Ill give this warning to anyone reading this story, the war will be portrayed realistically. By that I don't mean realistically what the battles would go like since most of that is opinion but realistically in what happens to the soldiers. The story will get dark; it will get gruesome and messed up. If you ever watch the HBO miniseries the pacific you will understand what I mean. Also, some things that happen are ridiculous but hey got to have some over the top action scenes some time. **

April 27th 3232, 1034 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC Adamscrest main base:

Pvt. Tony Hamm walked the bombed out streets, he had just arrived on one of the large ship to shore transports. He had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and was all of twenty three which is very young for a spartan. He hefted his duffel bag and followed the rest the replacements and stepped onto the grass of a large park that had been turned into the barracks area for the UNSC forces in the southern part of Adamscrest.

"So TJ, what squad you get placed in?" Hamm's friend from spartan training asked.

"Sierra squad" TJ said as the walked along "How about you Steve?"

"Kilo squad, along with three others" Steve said "Lost a whole fire team"

Hamm stopped and saw a group of marines sitting outside of a tent. They had their guns in hand and were cleaning them; most had cigarettes in their mouths.

"Hey, im looking for Spartan E company?" Hamm asked the marines, one looked up and took the cigarette from his mouth.

"How the fuck should we know?" the marine said. One of the marines stood up from where he sat against a tree reading a book.

"Follow me, ill help you out"

"Thanks" Hamm said as the marine lead him down the rows of tents.

"So, you a spartan or just dropping mail or something?" the marine asked.

"Im a spartan, know I don't quite look like it" Hamm said. The statement was true, most spartans stood between six foot six and seven two but that was in armor. Out of armor some were six eight but the average was six three, Hamm barley pushed six one.

"Yeah, but then again most people have the perception of spartans as looking like Hercules or something" the Marine said "My names Kevin"

"TJ" TJ said holding his hand out. The marine took it and shook before pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it up. He held one out to TJ, who turned it down with a wave.

"I don't smoke" TJ said.

"That's what they all say" Kevin said as he pocketed his lighter. TJ just smiled as they passed by more marines sitting outside, they wore only the pants of the NWU uniform for the most part, and any women wore training bars instead of shirts. Kevin's uniform had seen better days, the sleeves had been cut off and he let it hang open. The area was littered with men and women smoking, cleaning guns and sleeping though a few read.

"Well, E company is over there" Kevin said pointing to a row of tents "Word to the wise though, spartans at least from what I have seen are pretty tough on the new people"

"Thanks" TJ said as he walked off alone, Steve had left earlier with out saying good bye which was fine they would see each other at chow. TJ walked along and saw that the barracks were labeled. The building consisted of wooden knee walls supporting roofs that had mess material strung between them, there were curtains for night but they remained open for the most part. He came up to the one that had a large S on the door, a Turians broken helmet sat on a post outside of the building. TJ walked up to the door and stepped inside the small abode that housed the spartan squad, the inside was as well furnished as the buildings were accommodating. The beds were cots and there were foot lockers for each of them, the five spartans inside the barracks turned and faced the new guy. TJ looked around at them; there was a Hispanic woman with a cigarette in her teeth. She looked him over like a doctor would a patient; the other Hispanic in the room just leaned up on his elbows and had a crocked, some what demented smile on his face. Another with blonde hair like TJ was busy carving something out of a block of wood with a combat knife. Another female spartan was busy breaking down a sniper rifle; she used the scope to look at TJ. The last spartan leaned foreword on his cot and examined the young man with his one good eye the other was covered by a patch. The man had scars that crisis-crossed his face, and had a large cigar in his mouth.

"Can we help you son?" the spartan with an eye patch asked.

"Yes, I am the replacement" TJ said.

"Oh, well take that rack, third on the left" the man said "then get over here and stand at attention"

TJ quickly dropped his duffle bag and stepped over and stood at attention, he still had his cover on. The other spartans watched him like hawks, _more like a pack of wolves_ TJ thought as he stood there and the man with the eye patch stood up. He took the cigar from his mouth and looked the young man in his eyes, TJ couldn't help but shrink back a bit but he prevented himself from doing so and stood perfectly still.

"What is your name, son?"

"Tony Hamm, though everyone calls me TJ since my mid…" TJ was cut off as the other spartan asked him another question.

"Rank?"

"Private" TJ said straightly.

"Where you from?"

"Earth" Tony said "Grew up in the Chicago sprawl"

The spartan nodded; he shrugged looking at the other squad members. He took a draw on his cigar and blew the smoke away from TJ.

"Well, My names Major Jason" Jason said "just call me Jason, im not big on all that sir crap. Unless it's Darrel but I just like messing with him. Stand at ease this ant a court martial"

TJ relaxed, he stood at ease and took his cover off his head and stood there some what rigidly.

"That over there is Sargent Carrero, just call him Snafu everyone does now" Jason said pointing to the Hispanic man. TJ nodded, Snafu gave him a slow nodded still watching him.

"The sniper is Julie" Jason said. Julie put the scope down and gave him a genuine smile, TJ smiled back.

"Angel is the other girl we have in our unit, she is the medic" Jason said "she is not all that tender handed but she will fix you up pretty good"

"And then the one carving is Cale" Jason said "So welcome to sierra squad"

"Thank you sir, where is everyone else?" TJ asked.

"Well, John would be talking to his girl over the comm. system they brought down. Maria, Julie's spotter is probley at the range and Darrel went to get us some more supplies with Yazid" Jason said.

"Yeah, hope John doesn't purpose over the phone" Carrero said in a Hispanic accent. TJ walked over to his rack and took his boots off and sat down, he grabbed his duffel bag and opened the top of it.

"Sir, I though that females had to have separate berthing areas?" TJ said.

"Not enough space, besides they got curtains and the squad that sleeps, eats and lives together wins together" Jason said.

"Yeah, try to sneak a peak ill brake your skull" Angel said in her Hispanic accent. The squad laughed and TJ chuckled a bit.

"Wouldn't ever think of it" TJ said pulling a picture from his bag. It showed him in his dress blues standing with his father and his mother. TJ's father looked like the proudest man in the world, his robotic hand rested on TJ's shoulder. Mr. Hamm wore his own dress blues and like his son, the spartan emblem gleamed on his chest. Carrero smiled goofily at him from his rack which was next to TJ's.

"So, what you bring with you?" Carrero said "anything good?"

"Just what they give me, not much more" TJ said. The door opened again and TJ saw a Muslim looking man walk in followed by another man with deep brown hair and eyes. They had bags full of things that were clinking, they rattled as they hit the floor.

"We bring bearing gifts" Yazid said as he grabbed something from the back and produced a bottle of whiskey.

"Ten-hut rookie" Yazid said and TJ stood up really quick and managed to bang his toe on one of the cots posts. Pain shot through his foot and he grimaced and grabbed his foot and sat back down. Carrero laughed at him along with the other spartans, TJ rubbed his hurt foot.

"Looks like we can call you TJ after all" Carrero said. TJ looked up grimacing a bit as he did and looked at the laughing spartan.

"Oh, why is that?"

"Toe-jam, that's your new name" Carrero said.

"Fuck you Snafu" TJ said causing the whole tent to laugh more.

"I like you Toe-jam, here catch" Darrel said and tossed a bottle of whiskey to the spartan. TJ caught, he opened the top and took a swig from the bottle.

"Well, TJ looks like you will fit right in here" Jason said "and don't worry about us getting sent out for patrols or to the lines. We are getting some rear time for now, while the company gets reinforced"

April 27th 3232, 2104 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest:

The phantom dropship soared over the city, Ry stood at the edge of one of the open side hatches. He had on his nanosuit, the muscle looking suit was covered with armor plating and ammo pouches for the needle repeater he had in his hand. Next to him stood Eva, her blonde hair blew in the wind. She had opted out of a helmet like the rest of the group and wore the TAC-goggles. Ry looked her over, the nanosuit left little to his imagination which was currently occupied by the female spartan. Ry didn't know exactly why but he becomes more drawn to the female spartan over time.

"Ry, it's not polite to stare" Eva said smiling at him. Ry looked away and back at the city, the northwestern part was ablaze with combat most of the city had been retaken already.

"We make it through this, ill buy you a drink" Ry said. Eva laughed a bit, and nodded.

"Ok, no funny business though monster man" Eva said. Just then Hudson walked up behind the two of them, they glanced back. The leader of the special operations team had his TAC-goggles off and had the sunglasses he had become famous for on his face. The other two members of the team that was going in were sitting on the other side hatch of the dropship. One was another Sangheili named Thenvel sat and was talking with Arianna.

"Remember the defector said he would meet us in the basement of 345 Scottsdale ave." Hudson said "Once we get groundside expect heavy fighting"

"I didn't expect this to be easy" Ry said.

"Aw come on Ry, its no walk in the park but it still sounds like an interesting first date to me" Eva said. Hudson shook his head and walked over to be the hatch lead to the pilot's cockpit. The dropship veered down and towards the battle zone, Ry held on as the craft banked and went down lower to the city. Hudson walked back out of the cockpit of the craft and over to the side platform with Arianna and Thenvel.

"Everyone hook up!" Hudson yelled over the sound of the battle that was taken place below them by a good twelve stories above the ground, Ry clipped his gravity tether to a place on the edge of the side hatch and set the tether to rope like setting.

"Go!" Hudson said and the five man team leapt from the craft. They were hovering over a school building; they were to land on the roof and work the rest of their way down and to the objective. That was not what happened; Ry felt the tether jerk and looked up to see the phantom was hit by Turian triple A. The craft spun out of control as the laser beam smashed into to its port side engine, Ry held onto his weapon and saw the window of another building coming at him, and he unclipped at the right moment and went soaring into the room. Eva was not a step behind and flew in next to the elite. Ry looked up and saw a large lizard like alien run at him, he reacted quickly the nanosuit speed his reaction up to above superhuman or elite levels. He tossed a plasma grenade under handed; the device flew and stuck the Krogan in the chest. Ry took a hold of the beasts hump on its arm just as it ran into his chest and rolled back placing one foot into its gut and used its own momentum to throw it through the window. An explosion told him that it was dead for sure, but he didn't have time to really be awed by it as the Turian comrades of the alien poured fire on to the elite and the spartan. Ry activated the armor boost on his armor and fired the needle repeater in his hand in short bursts that turned a few Turians in to pin cushions as they ran into the room in a text book breach and clear. Eva fired her BR57 and the six Turians that lay dead in the matter of a fifteen seconds.

"Nice one Ry" Eva said. As she reloaded her weapon and ran to the door, Ry joined her on the other side of the hall.

"Ry, come in" Hudson said on the comm. line.

"This is Ry, we are good"

"Ok, move to the objective we will rendouv there and extract our target"

"Roger that, we are moving" Ry said. Him and Eva stepped out into the hall were the Turians and Krogan had come from. The two ran down the hall way, Eva ducked as a bright purple ball of energy flew over her head. An asari stood at the end of the hallway a massive shotgun in her hand, Eva aimed and fired her rifle. The asari's barriers flared up but held fast, the female alien then set her feet and launched like a rocket at Eva. The female spartan set her feet as the asari charged foreword with her biotics; Eva slammed her shoulder into the asari. The aliens attack made both of them stumble back, Eva's armor and shields had taken most of the impact but she had one advantage and that was the asari was shocked that Eva was still standing. The female alien warrior's hesitation was all the spartan needed; Eva quickly tackled the alien to the ground. Ry didn't have time to watch as a group of Turians came around the corner, they started to spray rounds onto the elite. Ry snapped his rifle up and fired bursts into each alien, the suit and adrenaline speed up his reaction time so that to him the world seemed to move slower, the phenomena know as spartan time. A few Turians managed to get behind cover while the unlucky three of the bunch exploded from the crystalline projectiles.

Eva was busy; the alien had recovered and was starting to fight back. Eva punched it in the face as she straddled the alien; the alien brought her arms up to protect her face. The asari's barriers took most of the force from the punches, the asari jabbed her hand foreword using biotics to knock the spartan off. The two stood up, both of their weapons lay out of reach for either of them. The asari took up a fighting stance and her hands and feet started to glow purple. Eva took her stance and the melee was on, the asari kicked her leg for Eva's gut. Eva blocked it and caught the alien's leg for which the asari was ready and quickly rolled back out of Eva's grasp. Eva punched the asari as it stood up from the roll and sent it flying back more but it had landed near its shotgun. It grabbed the weapon and raised it to fire. Eva saw this and sprinted at top speed as at the alien, if she was running on the freeway she would get a ticket. The alien pulled the trigger as Eva started too slid; the spray of rounds flew in a tight nit cone over the female spartans head and down the hallway. Eva took the aliens ankle as she slid past and the asari fell right to the ground. The spartan drew her knife and plunged it into the asari's neck, the alien sputtered a bit before the life left her. Eva picked up her rifle and joined Ry at the end of the hallway.

"Nice job" Ry said as he peaked around the corner. The area in front of the two was a large open area that was decorated with fountains pulls and potted planets.

"I got no motion, we need to move fast so let's get going" Eva said and started down the steps into the atrium, Ry followed closely behind her. They scanned the room, its was full of red light from the fires that were burning in the building next to them. Ry watched the balcony above them as they moved across the room, Eva watched the lower area. Ry's motion tracker suddenly became a blur of colors as the room lit up with flashlights. Ry moved an arm up to block his face from the light, Eva did the same but snapped around when a Turian gunship appeared in the window of the building. The two stood back to back as the Turians started to yell at them, the gunships engines screamed adding to the noise.

"Ry, use the cloaking" Eva said over the engine her hair blowing around. Ry nodded and they both turned the cloaking on their nanosuits on and dived form the spot they were in before. The area become a blaze of gunfire as the aliens shot at where the two had previously been. Ry moved behind a pillar that supported the balcony, a group of Turians came down the steps and set about clearing the room. Ry tossed a plasma grenade into the middle of them, the aliens dove for cover as Ry fired bursts from his weapon. The aliens that weren't caught in the blast of the grenade fell to the needle repeater. Ry ran along the area under the balcony more Turians poured into the room taking cover and suppressing where they thought he was at. Ry slid behind a marble knee wall that surrounded one of the fountains, he peaked over and saw a Turian suppressing the area he had been in. its comrades moved up staying low. Ry quickly took aim on the one who was suppressing the area and fired; as he did he heard a loud thud and saw a few Turians go flying over the balconies edge. Eva had used the nanosuits strength to execute an air stomp and send the aliens flying but the floor couldn't handle the impact and she fell through the balcony floor. The stomp had drained the nanosuit's energy and the gunship saw her and started to use its chin gun to force her to cover. Ry activated the armor mode on his suit and stood up as the cloak turned off, the Turians didn't see him coming. Ry fired his weapon into the Turian position and threw two grenades into it. The Sangheili jumped the nanosuit boosted the strength in his legs and he was able to clear the ten foot mark with ease just as the gunship fired a rocket at where he had been a mere second ago. The grenades went off as Ry came crashing down to the ground, he rolled as he hit and ended up prone, the gunship turned on him as Ry emptied the magazine from his weapon into the aircraft. Its shields slowly dropped, but its guns found its mark and Ry could feel the rounds pinging off his armor as his shields had been dropped by the blast from the rocket. Eva took the opportunity to move and fired at the gunship as she did, Ry rolled behind cover and the craft switched its focus onto the female spartan. Ry reloaded his weapon the empty cartridge flew out as he loaded in a fresh one. The gunship fired another rocket salvo into the room, the explosives destroyed the fountains.

"Ry, its destroying our cover!" Eva yelled out.

"I am aware!" Ry yelled back as the gunship turned onto the pillar that he was hiding behind. The rounds started to take chunks out of the pillar; Ry's cover was being torn apart by the constant fire. He looked around and saw a small rocket launcher on one of the Turians; it had a rocket in the front of it.

"I got an idea!" Ry yelled out. He activated his the maximum armor setting and ran foreword and grabbed the rocket launcher. He then dove behind what remained of one of the fountains. The Sangheili attached to plasma grenades to the rocket head and activated them; he stood and fired the rocket at the gunship. The gunship didn't have time to dodge the shot as it was only fifteen feet away from the building; the blast completely obstructed the pilot's view which was good for the spartans. The explosion also dropped its kinetic barriers which was all the opening Eva need, she charged foreword and leapt to the gunship leading over the cockpit. The pilot looked up as she ripped the canopy from the gunship, and shoved a plasma grenade into his chest. She gave him a smile and a small salute and leapt back into the room, she hit the floor and slid on her feet and turned around. The grenade went off and the gunship spun out of control as blue plasma engulfed the cockpit killing the pilot.

"Let's move!" Ry yelled and they went running into a hall off the room they were in. the hall had a few branching off of it with a large window at the end of it and it was obviously the office part of whatever business suite that they had just come through. The building shock as the gunship smashed into the floors below them causing the two to stumble and the Turians that came around the edge of the few halls that branched off the hall they were in. Ry tried to raise his weapon to fire but the building shock again as the gunship exploded. Ry felt the floor began to wobble and then his eyes widened as the floor started to slope down towards the end of the hall as the building leaned. The gunship had destroyed the exposed supports that Hudson had warned them about.

"Eva follow me!" Ry yelled and ran down the floor as it started to slope more and more. Eva followed closely behind him as they sprinted towards the window as the building sloped downwards. Ry started too slid as the buildings slope started to become too much for him to not stumble on, Eva did the same. The hall was fairly long and the two soared past Turians as the alien tried to hold on to something. One slipped and fell more towards the end of the hall and smashed through the window, Ry could see at least forty feet to the ground below. Ry and Eva flew out of the broken window and into the air. Ry braced himself as he flew towards the ground, as soon as his feet touched he rolled to absorb the impact Eva did the same and landed near him. They looked up at each other and started to chuckle a bit, Ry wiped his face and stood up and helped Eva to her feet.

"Well that was a close one" Ry said laughing a bit still but then a brick fell down behind them, the two looked up and saw the building had hit the other one next to it which was fortunately a larger on and had stopped the building from falling over completely. The structure they were in before had been broken into thirds in a way but it looked like it wanted to separate more as the sections that were no longer in line with the building started to slide.

"Eva move!" Ry yelled out and the two took off running towards the street that their phantom was hovering over when it dropped them off. The two sprinted as fast as they could as the building came down on top of them, they dove out from the buildings rubble as it crashed down to earth a few feet behind them. The street was ablaze with gunfire; Ry looked up and saw Hudson waving them over.

"Get over here!" Hudson yelled out. Ry helped Eva to her feet and the two took cover on the edge of the building that the other had smashed into. Ry peaked around the corner and saw a large force of Turians advancing foreword being supported by tanks. Down the street a Marine force moved up to counter the others assault.

"Use your cloaking and crawl across the street" Ry said. Eva nodded before activating the cloaking on her suit and the two started to crawl out along the road to where Hudson had taken cover along with Arianna and Thenvel.

April 27th 3232, 2115 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC base camp:

Jason lay in bed asleep; the night was quite and as peaceful as it could be. The peace was broken as the light in the squads barracks flipped on and the sound of footsteps on the floor.

"Every one of you out of those racks and on the deck!"

Jason snapped awake, he produced a pistol from under his pillow and had it aimed at the man who had just walked into the barracks. Two more stood by the door; Jason recognized one of them as the man he had yelled at earlier. The officer in the center had the captain insignia on his uniform, Jason grumbled and stood up. He didn't stand at attention but stood with is arms crossed at the foot of his rack.

"You should be at attention" the captain said.

"I should be getting my rest sir" Jason snapped back.

"So should the rest of this squad" John added. The captain glared at Jason, who was quite humorous due to the fact Jason was a good half foot taller.

"You would be but instead im here to find out exactly why one of my officers came to me and said he was disrespected by a grunt" the captain said.

"Respect is earned sir" Jason said and picked his rifle up and held it out to the officer "So how about you rear echelon jack asses go earn some"

"You respect the rank" the captain said.

"Man, I don't have time for this crap" Snafu said and lay back down. The officer went to yell at him but John grabbed him by the collar before he did. The officer snapped his eyes back to the spartan; John glared right back at him.

"You mind sir?" John began.

"Mind what Major?" the captain snapped back.

"Mind letting some real soldiers get some rest?" John said.

April 27th 3232, 2135 SMT/ Heaven/ Adamscrest/ Hot Zone:

Ry pressed himself against the wall behind Hudson, battle roared around them but they weren't here to be part of the larger conflict. Thenvel was in the back and placed his hand on Arianna, who in turn placed hers on Eva. Ry felt Eva's hand and then tapped Hudson and they stormed around the corner through a large hole in a wall into an elementary school building. The Turians that were in the building were shooting out of the windows and had not heard the team approach their position. Ry sight down on a Turian as he went towards the left side of the room, he squeezed his weapons trigger and the needle repeater blazed to life. The Turians didn't see it coming as the spartans and Sangheili warriors cleared the room in text book fashion. At the other side of the class room was another door, Ry took cover by the door he looked on the ground and saw what looked like a human infant on fire. He went to pick it up and found that it was only a baby doll, he looked at it. He felt a scream in his mind and the baby dolls face seemed to have a horrific rendition of it imposed over its regular face. Ry shook his head and turned it over and saw written on its back in the hand writing of a first grader "if found please return to Sarah". Ry placed it down on the floor after wiping the burning part from its face.

"You ok?" Eva asked from behind Ry.

"Yeah, Im fine" Ry said adjusting the grip on his rifle. He opened the door and led the four other black ops agents down the hall. The battle still raged outside but the school was quite, the teams footsteps echoed slightly as they walked down the hallway. Ry came to a door labeled stairs, he opened the door and snaked his head around.

"Clear" Ry said and moved into the landing area of the staircase. The Sangheili lead the way down the stairs, they passed the first floor and headed down one more set to the door labeled with "Basement". Ry opened the door and walked inside of the basement of the building the others close behind him.

"I can't see a thing, switch to NV" Hudson said. The squad powered up their NV goggles and placed them onto the TAC goggles they were wearing. Ry looked up and saw something come running across the floor, it's looked like a disfigured Turian corpse with a tail. The necromorph ran across the floor and Ry put a burst of ammo in to it, his vision seemed to shake a bit. Hudson walked up next to him and looked at the floor; Ry looked with him at the dead rat.

"Well, that's one rat we don't haft to worry about" Hudson said and walked along the room to the other end. Ry stared at the rat, his vision flashed and it went from being a rat to a necromorph and back again. He ignored it and walked on, his vision returned to normal as he looked away. Hudson opened the large steel door and light poured into the room, the teams NV switched off automatically to keep them from being blinded. The team walked in and Hudson stopped as a Turian raised a pistol. The weapon was pointed right at the team leaders head, Hudson snapped his rifle up.

"Patriot" the Turian said.

"Cold water" Hudson said. The two lowered their weapons, the team walked into the room and Thenvel closed the door behind them. Ry looked at the Turian who they were extracting; he seemed to be missing a plate off his face.

"I was beginning to worry, names Trexo" the Turian said.

"Hudson, the blondes Eva and the big scary one is Ry" Hudson said "The other spartan is Arianna and the big dude is Thenvel"

"Good, now do you mind getting me out of here" Trexo said.

"Why the rush?" Thenvel asked suspiciously.

"Nithlo sent a Cabal after me and I would rather not be here when they find this place"

"First show me the Intel" Hudson said. Trexo pulled a small black device from a pocket in his armor; he put it back and crossed his arms.

"Good, Thenvel give Trexo here our gifts" Hudson said. Thenvel walked over and dropped the bag he was carrying at the Turians feet. Trexo opened it and picked up a harness system that was designed to fit him, it had pockets on it and he could see the cartridges for the needle repeater in them. He quickly put it on and grabbed the rifle; Hudson attached a pack of some sort to the back of Trexo's harness.

"It's a shield and cloaking generator, this will make sure you don't get killed on us till we get you some real armor" Hudson said. Trexo popped the top on the needle repeater and slotted in a magazine for it.

"Let's move" He said. Hudson gave a quick hand signal to Thenvel who opened the door and they moved out and into the basement area again. Ry lead Eva and Trexo down the left of the area and Hudson kept his team to the right so they would have the whole room covered. At the end they came to a garage like door, the sound of battle on the other side pounded its way through the door. Hudson switched the comm. net over to all the marines in the area and broadcasted a message to them.

"This is Major Hudson, there is a friendly Turian traveling with us watch your fire" Hudson said before nodding to Ry and Thenvel who took hold of the bottom of the door. Ry nodded and the two pushed the door up, the other four team members charged outside and took cover behind some destroyed cars near the top of the ramp that lead down to the basement. Ry and Thenvel dropped the door and ran up to join their comrades as Turian rounds smashed around them. Ry peaked over cover and saw the street was alive with combat, they had come out into a rather larger round about area of the streets and in the center was the main Turian position. They had set up mounted guns and sandbags and were fitting for the location for all it was worth. Marines fired at them from two of the six streets that were linked to the round about. Ry ducked down and blindly fired his weapon as he did keeping it pointed at the enemy.

"Ry!" Hudson yelled out "Flank left!"

Ry nodded and snaked his way to the edge of the car. He dived to the large sign that had the schools announcements in it; the elite snapped around cover and fired his weapon. A Turian fell to the ground dead before he could get back down behind cover. Ry looked over and saw the other five members of the team lead frogging across the street. The elite activated the speed module in his armor and broke cover around the sign. Ry became a blur as he ran towards the enemy; the Turians had become too focused on the others to see Ry move up before it was too late. Ry ran up to one and grabbed the alien using him as a shield and fired is weapon with one hand. The other Turians dropped to the ground or behind some of the sand bags. Ry placed a plasma grenade on the captured Turian and flung him into his comrades, the explosion engulfed them. The marines used that opportunity to move up and assault into the Turian position with no mercy. Ry watched as a Turian was impaled by a marine; the UNSC war fighters had attached bayonets. Ry hopped over a wall of sand bags and saw a Turian lying on the ground cowering in fear.

"Pathetic" Ry said before stomping the alien and aiming his weapon at more of the Turians who were being forced out of cover as the marines closed in to engage them in close quarters. The last Turian lay dead in the fountain a top the decorative stair like set up in the center of the round about.

"Oorah!" the marines yelled. Ry reloaded his weapon, he saw Trexo looking downcast at the sight of so many of his dead former comrades. Ry walked over and placed a hand on the Turians shoulder but Trexo shrugged it off.

"I don't need anyone's sympathy" the Turian said. Ry nodded, he knew the feeling of having to kill his fellows and he didn't like it ether. Just then the fountain exploded as a Turian tank came rolling down the street, more enemy infantry moving up with it. Ry dove for cover as debris flew overhead; the Sangheili quickly scuttled along the ground a few feet and pulled himself up behind a sandbag wall. Ry moved up and over the wall a bit and fired the needle repeater, the projectiles hit a few Turians but they were stopped by the alien's kinetic barriers. Eva slid in to cover next to him, she fired her weapon as she did and Ry saw one of the Turians that was firing from behind a chunk of wall get dropped.

"Good one!" Ry yelled. Eva gave him a sly grin as she fired more bursts of plasma encased rounds down range. Ry switched his weapon to semi auto and started to place more accurate shots he only had a few cartridges left for his gun. The marines all started to take cover as the tank's shells pounded into the area around them; a few got caught in the blast. The tank stopped and Ry got a good look at the vehicle it was huge, twice the size of a scorpion easily. Hatches opened on it and out poured the last thing any of them expected to see, Brutes. The LMG's on the tank itself started to fire and force the UNSC troops down behind cover.

"Command this is Hudson, package secure!" Hudson said "We need some serious fire support the Turks brought out a monster tank. I don't know where they came from but there are brutes!"

Ry ducked down as he heard Hudson, he quickly loaded another cartridge into his rifle and took aim again.

"What do you mean it's a counter attack?" Hudson said.

"Ok, got it!" Hudson said. The firefight intensified as more humans, union troops and hostile infantry joined the battle. The tank fired its main gun into the school; the shell exploded killing the Union squad inside of the room. Ry aimed on to a brute, he got a good look at the brute in the scope of his rifle. Their armor had changed from the light plating into a full body suit, a full head covering helmet with the small view ports. In their hands weren't the iconic spikier but rather a crude looking rifle weapon. Ry could see a cylindrical magazine in the back of it; it had a rectangular sight rail and fired spikes like most brute weapons. Ry squeezed the trigger and saw the creature's shields flare up, and the brute took cover.

"Guess they aren't dumb apes anymore!" Thenvel yelled out.

"Natural selection, we killed all the dumb ones centuries ago!" Eva yelled as she tossed a grenade down the street. Ry chuckled and fired his gun before dropping down again. He looked up and saw more of his species leading a group of grunts into the fight. The grunts armor had changed as well, they no longer had the large tank but it was rather more streamlines to match the rest of their armor. They used needle repeaters as well; the standard elite combat harness had changed as well and featured more compartments for supplies. Its over all look had changed to be more in tune with humanity, the plates were more ridged and less rounded off. They had fully sealed helmets or like humans used TAC-goggles, many had been against the changes but the new equipment fit with their new military style. An elite sergeant took cover near Ry, the grunts spread out giving each other covering fire as they did.

The roar of engines drew the assembled union and UNSC troop's attention, Ry looked up and saw three longswords fly overhead. The massive tank at then end if the street exploded as the aircraft dropped ordnance onto the tank. The explosion engulfed the tank and Ry saw the massive behemoth vehicle was not all that damaged.

"Holy shit!" a marine exclaimed. Ry fired at a brute that broke cover and tried to dart across the street, the ape like alien fell to the ground in a bloody head.

"Command, hit it again!" Hudson said as the tank once again fired and a squad was reduced to ash. The screech that had become known to the UNSC and Union as "The angels cry" ripped through the air as a reaper gunship fired its cannon at the tank. The tank exploded, the street become engulfed in a massive fire ball. All the soldiers on both sides ducked as debris flew every where. The reapers chain guns spun to life and the Brute and Turian infantry at the end of the street were reduced to bites. The reapers fire stopped, the street was quite.

"Command how about that evac?" Hudson said "understood"

Ry sat down and checked his ammo pouches, he had no cartridges left and only three shoots left in his rifle. The Sangheili looked up and saw Trexo sitting nearby against a sand bag barricade. Ry grabbed a water canteen from on his belt and tossed it to the Turian.

"Thanks" Trexo said.

"Team, evac in five minutes" Hudson said.

"Sir, what was that about a counter assault?" A marine asked.

"The covvies just showed up and deployed dropships all over, including here in Adamscrest. Most of their forces are attacking the eastern areas of the city from what command said"

Ry felt some one sit down next to him and saw Eva. She had the grim of war on her and her blonde hair was stained with dirt and grim.

"So, Eva" Ry said "how about that drink?"

April 27th 3232, 2102 SMT (Heaven) (9:30 local time)/ Citadel:

Garrus walked calmly up to the door in the apartment complex in the Zekera ward near the University. He wore his dress uniform, the medal of valor dangled around his neck and a some what somber expression was on his face. Garrus's face had healed up some what and he could hear again, bandages still covered the larger cuts on his face. He sighed and rapped his hand on the door to the apartment; he heard some movement behind the door. The door slide open to revile a young asari in a pair of lose fitting sweat pants and a t-shirt. She had light blue skin, bright eyes and stood a few inches shorter than Garrus. The apartment was well lit and Garrus could see nice looking furniture and what looked like cases holding some sort of artifacts.

"Yes?" the asari said some what shyly.

"Ma'am, my name is Garrus Vakarian, may I come in please"

"Oh, yes of course" the girl said. Garrus walked in to the apartment and the door closed behind him. The asari walked over to the kitchen area of the apartment, Garrus couldn't help but watch her as she went. The Turian heard the sound of a television playing some where in the place.

"Im Liara by the way" Liara said reaching in to a cupboard and pulling out two glasses "would you like a drink ?"

"Yes, water please" Garrus said walking around the room. He came to one of the cases and looked at what was inside. It appeared to be a statues head; it looked quite strange to Garrus. Liara walked over and offered one of the glasses to Garrus; Garrus took and smiled a bit. He took a drink and let the cool water calm his sore throat, which like the rest of him, ached quite a bit.

"Its prothean, Im actually attending school and majoring in science and anthropology" Liara said.

"Well, that is good" Garrus said.

"Yes, so what can I do for you Mr. Vakarian?" Liara said sipping on her own glass of water. Garrus didn't say anything to her but reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter Liara's sister had given him. She took it and looked it over.

"Thanks for delivering it" Liara said "I don't know why she wouldn't just send an e-mail"

Garrus sighed and placed his cup down, he tried to look Liara in the eyes but he couldn't seem to do it.

"Garrus, is something wrong?" Liara said.

"No, thank you for your hospitality" Garrus said with no emotion. The Turian walked to the door and opened it, he stepped into the hall way and headed for the nearest bar. Meanwhile, Liara stood confused in her apartment. She shrugged and opened the envelope that the Turian had given her, she smiled as she read but it didn't last. As she read the letter from her sister, Tenana, her face changed from one of happiness to sadness. She felt a tear slid down her cheek, she fell to her knees the letter by her side as she realized that her only sibling and the only family member she saw regularly would not becoming home.

**Please read and review, the poll is still open for favorite character, so feel free to vote if you have not already.**


	15. The Rookies not so green anymore

**So, six reviews for the last chapter along with some more fav's which is nice. To a few reviewers all im going to say is the spartans are going to stay in the story as they have a part to play. The favorite character poll is still open. At the end of the chapter is a clue as to where the war is going, so in your review or a private message tell me what you think is going to happen soon. Enough jawing, enjoy the chapter. **

April 27th 3232, 2203 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC main base in Adamscrest:

John lay asleep in his rack; he slept soundly in the cot though it was not the most comfortable thing in the known universe. The other squad members slumbered, Carrero mumbled a bit in his sleep and TJ snored like a train. John was snapped awake at the sound of the door to their barracks slamming open, the lights flicked on and the rest of the squad grumbled as they looked around but every one of their eyes snapped wide when Sledge yelled out.

"Get out of bed, the cities under assault!" Sledge yelled then sprinted from the door.

"Oh shit!" Cale yelled as they sprang from their beds, those how had weapons grabbed them and they went running out the door. John looked up as a flight of longswords flew across the clear night sky, he could see the flashes of light from the naval battle and far to their left. The sound of an explosion rocked the night sky as one of the longswords exploded. The wreckage smashed to the earth farther into the city, Adamscrest was once again on fire as battles began to rage through its war torn streets.

"John!" Jason yelled from further down the path "We got to get to the armory!"

John sprinted after the rest of his squad as they ran to the armory elephants, the base started to get hit by artillery. A shell crashed into a marine barracks, the building erupted into a fire ball and the shockwave knocked John to the ground. He quickly stumbled back up to his feet and kept on running, he ran past a group of three marines still in their sleeping clothes huddled in a foxhole. John stood and squatted down on the edge of the hole as a brute fighter flew over head being chased by a longsword.

"Get your asses out of that hole if you want to live!" John yelled to the men and then ran on. John saw the armory up ahead; they had set it up inside the first floor of a parking garage to protect the elephants that had the armor stations in them. John ran for it an artillery shell smashed to the ground behind him causing him to stumble, he stumble foreword and fell down close to entrance of the garage. Jason and TJ ran out and grabbed him under the arms and drug him into the safety of the garage. John stood up as they set him down; he quickly patted himself down checking for any hits. Miraculously he was ok; he looked up and saw a hand presented to him. He grabbed a hold of it and was pulled to his feet by Ack-Ack, the colonel patted Johns shoulder.

"Sir, what in the hell is going on?" John asked Ack-Ack, the colonel sighed before answering his fellow spartan.

"The covenant are back, they just jumped in with close to sixty ships not sure if they brought any super carriers with them but I sure as hell hope not" Ack-Ack said as the two walked over to one of the elephants and waited for their turn.

"What are the number sir?" John asked.

"We got sixty for frigates over head, along with twenty four cruisers and the three Missouri class battle cruisers, the Union forces are similar but they don't have any super carriers here" Ack-Ack said "the enemy ships number close to two hundred and at least a third are Covenant. Luckily for use the navy is fighting more over the southern hemisphere on the other side of the planet"

"Sir are we losing overhead?" Leckie asked.

"Not sure but I know that its not going as well as it was" Ack-Ack said "now get geared up, more hostiles just lined up to die"

John cracked a smile and walked up into the elephant; he stopped in front of the armor pod and slid his dog tag into its place. He stepped inside, the hatch closed and the machine sprang to life and in forty five seconds he was full armored. He stepped out and grabbed his helmet from its place. Jason nodded to his brother before stepping into the machine himself. John jogged over to the elephant with their weapons, the armory masters were handing out the company's weapons as fast as they could.

"Sierra 1" John said to the armory master, the man nodded and repeated what john said to one of the people in the elephant. A few seconds later he was handed a gun case, John walked over to a spot and quickly UN did the latches. Inside was his load out, he grabbed the grenades and put them in their place. He quickly slid his magazines into their pouches; he grabbed his MA37 and slammed a magazine home. He sent the bolt foreword and looked up to see the rest of his squad around him loading up. They checked everything over; John slung his rifle across his back and put his pistol in its holster.

"Spartans listen up!" Ack-Ack said. The company continued to load up and listened to their leader as he spoke.

"We got large amounts of incoming on our frontlines, command needs us up there asap" Ack-Ack said "Pelicans are to dangerous so we are going to be hooking up with the 1st mechanized in thirty seconds, get prepped and load up!"

John looked at his squad; TJ closed his case and looked up at John. John could see the fear in the young mans eyes, but the spartan didn't falter as he put on his Mark VI helmet.

Just then the sound of tracked vehicles drew the attention of the spartan company; John looked outside and saw parts of the base burning. Dropships flew out from the landing pad, they were headed for the front line but he couldn't see it all as their ride had arrived. Seven of the new APC's sat outside and dropped their troop bay hatches. They were being escorted by ten scorpion tanks, and a host of mobile missile launches craft.

"Get on board, move it!" Ack-Ack yelled out and the spartans all ran from the parking garage to the metal transport craft. John and Jason stood on either side of the APC as Sierra, Terra and Echo squad ran on board.

"Move it, move it!" John yelled. As the last two ran on board John and Jason ran in and took their seats right next to the door as the hatch began to close. Sledge, the leader of Terra squad banged on the front of the troop bay with his fist and the Rhino APC roared to life. The entire column of armor accelerated and headed for the front lines. The troop bay was lit with an eerie red looking light, John looked around the bay. The other spartans stared off into space; some removed their helmets and took a drink from their canteens. John stood up and took a hold of one of the handles that hung from the ceiling, he had his one hand on the handle and the other held his rifle. TJ sat nearby; he was shaking a bit and had a tight grip on his rifle. John walked over to him and placed a hand on the spartans shoulder.

"You will be fine kid" John said. TJ couldn't speak; he looked and nodded to his squad leader. John walked back to the hatch of the APC and faced the spartans.

"All right listen up" John said. The spartans looked up at the major, some of the replacements hands shook a bit.

"As soon as we get to the front we are going to push the enemy back, we will not be staying still and shoot at the enemy. We are going to advance foreword and drive these motherfuckers all the way to the gates of hell and beyond if we haft to!" John said.

"Sir, ETA sixty seconds" the tank commander said over the intercom.

"All right you stone cold killers, Lock and Load!" John yelled out.

"Oorah!" the spartans yelled. The sound of bolts soaring foreword in their weapons filled the APC along with the clicks of the chambers locking in the rifles of the spartans. John turned to the hatch, Jason stood up next to him.

"John, we will need to get organized before we can even try to push foreword" Jason said.

"I know" John said "but do me a favor and not mouth off to another officer, I like my sleep"

"What? Aw come on man don't give me shit for that" Jason said.

"I wasn't asking you as a brother, I was giving you an order" John said. Jason looked towards the hatch; he checked his rifle and rolled his shoulders before turning to others.

"On your feet, ten seconds" Jason said, the other spartans stood up. The APC came to a halt, the spartans all readied for the sprint to cover. John cradled his rifle in his hands, he flicked the safety off. The sounds of rounds hitting the APC echoed around the troop bay, the roar of the APC's 40mm cannon added to the noise. The light turned green and the hatch dropped like a rock, John sprinted out from the APC. He raised his rifle and sighted it on a brute that thought he could try to shoot the spartans as they rushed out from the armored personal carrier. John fired his weapon, the brutes shields broke and the last few rounds smashed through the creature's chest. John slid into cover behind a shattered wall, Jason slammed into it as he tossed a grenade over the wall into the brute lines. The rest of the spartans had taken cover behind wreaked cars, rubble piles and in the remains of buildings. John stood up and took aim on three brutes who were suppressing a group of marines; John emptied his magazine into the beasts. Jason stood next to his brother and fired the grenade launcher on his weapon. The explosive round finished the brutes off and the two ducked back down as a scorpions cannon fired destroying a machine gun nest.

"Julie, Maria get into an over watch position!" John ordered the sniper team.

"Roger boss, we're moving!" Julie said and seemed to disappear along with Maria.

"Sledge!" Jason yelled out to the other squad leader. The spartan turned to Jason, he ducked down as a brute shot grenade soared overhead and smashed into a wall in front of three marines who managed to get down in time.

"Cover us, Sierra move up!" Jason yelled. The eight spartans broke from their cover and sprinted up, down the wide street. John leapt over a chunk of rubble. He glanced up and saw a fox hole in the street, he dove into it. Cale and Yazid landed next to him, John quickly crawled up to the top of the hole and started to fire his weapon again. A brute group of brutes move up, another large group lay down cover fire for the advancing enemies.

"Cale use your swarmers!" John said. Cale glanced over the edge and then fired the swarmer grenade and half of the group suppressing for the others were mauled by the small missiles.

"Echo move up!" Leckie yelled. The other two spartan squads all broke cover and fired their weapons at the hostiles. Brutes and Turians tried to fire back but got mowed down by the spartans fire. Echo squad made it to cover inside of a destroyed bus and started to lay down fire with the other two squads. The marines from further down the street moved up with the spartans, John heard a thud and looked behind him.

"Sargent Neibecker, we need to stop meeting this way!" John said as the marine fixed his helmet on his head. The tanks from down the street fired their cannons in a massive volley into the brute positions. John went to the top of the fox hole and fired his weapon at a Turian who dived from his old position as it explode from a tank shell. John reloaded his rifle as a Turian gunship soared over head. Loud explosions echoed down the street as the gunship destroyed two of the tanks.

"Shit!" Jason said before aiming around a pillar that supported a balcony. He fired three bursts from his BR57 and more hostiles found death. John looked up, a snipers fire smashed into his chest and he fell back his shields drained. John heard the crack of a sniper rifle and knew the hostile was dead. He stayed down as his shields recharged.

"John, we can't advance further!" Sledge yelled "there are too many!"

The sound of one of the loudest cannons john had ever heard rang out. The end of the street exploded and more of their armor support was wiped from the face of the planet. John looked over and saw a massive tank at the end of the street. More brutes poured out from its open hatches, John thought quickly. The tank fired again and a building that had a squad of marines in it exploded.

"Get us some fire support!" John yelled out. He looked over the edge of his fox hole and saw the tanks barrel moving to level with his position.

"Move!" John yelled to Cale and Yazid. The three bolted from the fox hole. The tank fired and the explosion sent John flying as he was the last one out of the hole. He smashed into a wall near Jason, his brother looked at him.

"John, we can't get any fire support right now!" Jason said.

"What!" John yelled out. Another boom and more of the street exploded from the tanks massive cannon. John got up and took cover behind a planter, the plants were long dead.

"We can't get any fire support!" Jason yelled out before quickly leaning around the pillar and firing his weapon. The three tanks fired in a volley, the loud concussion from the weapons made the entire street shake.

"Try again!" John said. He peaked over the edge of the planter and sighted down his rifle. He fired his weapon; the rounds tore into a brute that was dumb enough to try to man the mounted machine gun on one of the brute tanks. John thought quickly and came up with a plan, he hopped it wouldn't get everyone killed.

"Echo squad move up!" John yelled "Everyone else give them covering fire!"

"Are you crazy! We will get mowed down!" Leckie said.

"Leap frog it!" John said. Leckie sighed and fired his weapon before breaking from his cover followed by three other spartans further up the street. John and all the other UNSC troops gave them covering fire as the spartan squad advanced. Jason tapped John on the shoulder and pointed to a building that was about to fall down. John looked and saw the tanks were right under the building if it were to topple over.

"Im going to take bravo and topple that bitch!" Jason yelled.

"All right!" John replied as the brute tanks fired again, more marines and spartans dove from their position as it erupted "be quick!"

"All right!" Jason kicked in the door to the building that they had taken cover near "Sierra Bravo on me!"

The three other spartans ran over and followed Jason into the building; John ducked down as rounds soared over the planter's edge.

"Yazid, see if you can get us any support!" John yelled. Yazid nodded and took cover. John looked around the edge of the planter; one of the tanks had aimed at his position. John bolted for it and slid behind a concrete barrier as the balcony exploded and collapsed.

"Sledge I want you to move left" john ordered as he stood and fired his weapon. He watched as the marine platoon lead by Sargent Neibecker moved off the street and down an alley way.

"Major, im going to see what we could do about flanking those brutes!" Neibecker yelled.

"Roger!" John yelled ducking down. More brutes moved up the street and the spartans fired at them as they advanced. The brutes leap frogged up towards the spartans, John fired his assault rifles entire magazine at an advancing brute fire team. John watched as the tanks fired again, he ducked down as the area right in front of him exploded. He landed on the ground and the world went black.

TJ fired his Br57 from cover behind a burning car; he looked over and saw John go flying back as the tank fired at his position.

"Shit!" TJ yelled out. Angelica looked over from next to him. She looked over cover and fired her weapon at a brute that tried to get a clear shot on Sledge. TJ looked around and saw a ramp leading down to a garage door, he pointed to it as an idea popped into his head.

"Angel, im going to open that door!" TJ yelled to the medic "We need to get the wounded to safety!"

"All right!" Angelica replied "Sledge, Leckie fall back to my position!"

"Understood!" Sledge yelled back. TJ ran up to the door and grabbed it on the bottom. He stood up with it, the door tried to fall back down but TJ supported it across his shoulder.

"Get the wounded through that door now!" Leckie yelled as he slid into cover and pointed to TJ. Marines ran past the spartan carrying their shot to hell buddies. Three from Sledges squad stumbled in to the garage and two from Leckie's. Angel quickly ran in and set to work along side the corpsmen.

"Some one get John!" TJ yelled as he grunted trying to hold the door up.

"Give us cover!" Leckie yelled out. The spartan squad leader ran out with Yazid for John. They hooked their arms around his and drug him to the garage. TJ grunted as a stray round hit him in the arm, his shield absorbed the shot but it still knocked his arm a bit. The two spartans dug John under the door and lay him down. They ran back out and TJ dropped the door. He sprinted up a rubble pile and into the wrecked office building it was from, the basement with all the wounded was under the same building. TJ quickly aimed his weapon as a brute came at him from down the hall. He fired the BR as fast as he could and the alien hit the ground in a pool of blood. TJ looked up and saw more brutes coming down the hall of the building. TJ rolled backwards and took cover against the wall outside the building.

"We are getting flanked!" TJ yelled to the other spartans and marines. Yazid ran over to him and peaked around the corner of the building. He quickly pulled back as rounds from the brute weapons soared past.

"Grenades!" Yazid said and slung his rifle; he grabbed two grenades and primed them. TJ did the same. Yazid nodded and they threw the four explosives down the hallway. The hall was filled with shrapnel and any brutes that got caught in the blast were pulped. The two spartans charged down the hall. TJ saw a brute stand up from behind a copy machine; TJ filled it full of lead as he ran past with Yazid on his left. Once they got to the end of the hall they closed the door.

"Pile stuff in front of it!" Yazid barked. TJ nodded and felt the ground shake as the brute tanks fired at the human positions behind them. TJ's ears picked up muffled explosions and the sound of groaning metal. TJ didn't pay attention to it and ran over to Yazid who was bracing the door. TJ started to drag a large office machine back towards Yazid but the spartan was thrown from the door. Yazid landed on top of TJ and the two toppled to the ground. A brute chieftain stepped through the door followed by a squad of regular troops.

"Play dead" Yazid whispered. The squad ran past and started to engage the humans but the chieftain stopped. He picked up TJ, the spartan kept himself limp. The brute looked into his visor; TJ quickly drew his knife and plunged it into the brutes arm. The beast roared in pain and dropped the spartan didn't stop attacking. He got low to the ground; he dived foreword and smashed his shoulder into the brutes shin. He placed his hand behind the chieftain's foot and the massive creature toppled over. TJ jumped onto the brute's chest and started to punch its face. The brute snarled and grabbed TJ. The beast slammed him into the wall; TJ could feel the creatures hand around his throat. His vision began to blur, _this is it _TJ thought but then he saw Yazid put his pistol to the beast head. The Muslim spartan pulled the trigger and the brute stumbled, TJ hit the ground. He fought through his shortness of breath and tackled the brute. The two went out of the window and landed in the alley way below. The chieftain roared as TJ started to smash his fists into its face as hard as he could. His fists moved faster from the adrenaline in his system, the brute was desperate. The ape like alien grabbed a chunk of concrete and smashed it into TJ's head. TJ fell of the brute and landed in a heap next to the chieftain. TJ was in a daze again, he watched the sky as a Turian fighter flew overhead. The brute grabbed TJ's helmet and pulled it off. The beast growled into TJ's face. TJ saw the brute's fist coming for his face, his eyes snapped wide open and he moved his head out of the way. The brute's fist smashed into the street creaking it. TJ reached out and grabbed a hold of his helmet. He smacked the brute upside its head knocking the massive chieftain helmet from its head. The thing pinned TJ's arm to the ground. It got up right in TJ's face and growled droll landed on TJ's cheek. The spartan grabbed for anything, his hand found a piece of glass. TJ took the glass and stabbed the brute in the neck, the beast reared up and roared. Its hands went to its neck leaning TJ's arms free. TJ quickly punched the brute as hard and as many times in the gut as he could. It toppled over; TJ grabbed his helmet and straddled the brute as it gurgled from the glass shard in its neck. TJ was enraged, he took his helmet and started to beat the Brutes skull in with it. He muttered curses at the thing and didn't hear as the human tanks and troops ran past. He didn't notice as Sargent Neibecker squad walked down the alley.

"Jesus Christ" a marine said as he watched TJ beat the brute to death with his helmet. Sargent Neibecker walked up and put a hand on TJ's shoulder causing the spartan to stop. TJ looked back, he saw the marine offer his hand. He took it and Neibecker helped him to his feet as best the marine could.

"Beating a brute to death with a helmet, that would be a new one" Neibecker said. TJ looked at his helmet and saw it was covered in the brute's blood.

"You got a rag?" TJ asked. The marine sergeant pulled a rag from a pouch on his armor and handed it to the spartan. TJ wiped the visor clear and offered it back.

"Keep it" Neibecker said. TJ placed his helmet back on his head and turned when he heard Yazid.

"TJ, catch you crazy basterds!" Yazid yelled tossing him his rifle. TJ caught it; he checked the ammo counter and slid a fresh magazine into place. The spartan lead the marines from the alley way and back to the street. He saw a building toppled right onto the brute tanks. UNSC tanks and marine moved up the street. The brute forces that were left were forced to fall back. Jason walked over to the spartan and the marines.

"What's on your helmet TJ?" Jason asked.

"Sir, that crazy basterd beat a brutes skull in with his helmet" a marine said. Jason nodded he held his hand up and motioned for the squad to form up. The spartans walked over to Jason, the area for the moment was safe enough. Julie and Maria waved at them from the top of the office building. The two jumped down and onto a rubble pile sliding the rest of the way down. The snipers walked over the rest of the troops, the spartans from echo and terra squads did as well.

"Were is John?" Jason asked. Angelic answered him as she walked up.

"He is with the wounded, he got knocked out by a blast and has some nasty shrapnel wounds but he will pull thought" Angel said.

"Damn, all right listen up" Jason said "the brutes are stall mating the rest of the line, except here we managed to force them back"

"Well, good for us" Carrero said "Medals for all"

"Not yet, we are going to use the armor we have here to move on the main hostile encampment and finish this fight" Jason said "how many spartans we got RFD?"

"Twenty four" Yazid said.

"Yeah, I lost James and the Torok twins are wounded" Leckie said.

"Our sniper team is wounded" Sledge said "we still got Leckie's and your team"

"All right, Julie and Maria go with Hewt and Enders" Jason said "I want you four to stay farther back and when we are engaged get into an over watch position"

"Yes sir" Enders said.

"Split into two teams of ten, fire teams of five" Jason said "I lead team one, Leckie you got two and Maria is in charge of the sniper team"

"Sargent Neibecker, ever where of a battlefield commission?" Jason asked the marine.

"Yes sir, why do you ask?" Sargent Neibecker.

"Simple, Lieutenant" Jason said "good work today, now get what ever marines you can and follow us"

"Sir, yes sir" the now Lt. Neibecker said. Jason switched his net comm. over to the one for command and radioed in what was going on.

"Command, this is sierra 2"

"Go ahead"

"We have halted the brute advance in grid 22-34; we need resupply and any fire support you can spare on stand by. We are going to move on the main hostile base"

"Roger that, that is a negative on the advance for the time being. Hold position and wait for reinforcements before moving"

"Understood command, about those supplies?"

"In route, sit tight"

Jason walked over to the remains of a burned out car and pulled the TAC-Pad from his wrist and set it down on the hood of the car. He pulled the map up of the area, the markers of the different positions on both sides showed up over the blue map. He activated the projector and the map expanded off the screen and into a hologram over the cars hood. Jason saw that the building they had toppled had blocked the street they were on completely. The brutes were assaulting the line further down and there was not much hostile presence left in the area.

"Spartans, Marine NCOs and officer get over here" Jason ordered as he studied the map. The men and women he had called over gathered around the map.

"Here is the deal, the brutes and Turks assaulted up this street we are on now since it was a more direct route to base. We stopped that by blocking the street but they are more than willing to go through the side streets" Jason said "we are right now on the edge of our line, they aren't assaulting anywhere else and the Rango River gives us a natural barrier to the south. Command denied my request to press on so we will do what damage we can to them from here"

"Sir, we need supplies" a marine said.

"I have them in route to us now, they are also sending reinforcements" Jason said "Now, I want that office building cleared from top to bottom of any hostiles and junk, that means desks, computers and whatever else. Im going to call command and have them bring us what we need to set up an FOB. Marines I want you to handle that"

"Yes sir" the marine NCOs and Officer said.

"Sniper team, set up and give us an over watch" Jason said.

"Got it sir" Ender said and the snipers ran off.

"Leckie, I want you and five others to go to this bridge here over the river and blow it" Jason said.

"All right" Leckie said "We will make it quick"

"I and all the other spartans are going to use what we can find to build ourselves a defensible wall" Jason said "now get to it"

April 27th 3232, 2224 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC base:

Hudson and his team sat in the tower being used for their team. They had been dropped off by another phantom, they had to wait for the naval battle to die down before they could rendouv with their ship considering that their dropship had been destroyed and it was too dangerous to deploy another. Trexo sat against a window, the battle raged in far flung corner of the city was visible behind him. Trexo stared at the ground; his mind was full of thoughts about what he was doing. Ry noticed this but decided to let the Turian be, the massive elite sat in a darkened corner of the room against a chunk of a longsword wing. Thenvel walked over, the Sangheili glanced at the Turian.

"Think we can trust him Ry?" Thenvel asked. Ry looked up at his comrade; his red eyes were serious and stern.

"If I didn't I would have killed him" Ry said "besides, he joined with the enemy because he thought what his leaders was doing is wrong and wants to see them brought to justice. That takes more honor and courage then some Sangheili could ever hope to have"

"I trust your judgment" Thenvel said. Eva walked over to Ry and crouched down next to the red-eyed elite. She ran an armored hand along his lower mandible, Ry looked up and the blonde smiled at him.

"You ok?" Eva asked.

"Im fine" Ry said. Eva nodded and sat down next the elite. She grabbed her rifle and slid the magazine out from its mag-well.

"Got eighteen rounds left" Eva said "still got everything for my pistol though"

"Around the same here" Ry said. Hudson finally stopped talking; he sighed and turned to face the team.

"All right team listen up" Hudson said "Our Evac won't be coming anytime soon so we will need to find a place to hold tight at"

"This place works well" Trexo said "we can use the tethers to bug out the wind if we need to and it's fairly defensible"

"We need supplies, we don't know how long we are going to be stuck here and we don't have any rations" Arianna said "plus Turians are allergic to our food"

The sound of something moving caught Ry's attention; he held up a hand and grabbed the needle pistol from its holster.

"Another rat?" Thenvel asked chuckling a bit.

"No, shut up and listen" Ry said. The squad listen closely and heard the soft sound of footsteps. The team activated their cloaking devices; they were highlighted through each others HUDs.

"Switch to thermal and keep it quite, pistols and knives only" Hudson said. Ry nodded and moved off into the dark. The building had lost power and there was no light through out the entire structure. Ry grabbed his combat knife, he would use the energy based melee weapons but the cloaking didn't work with them. He stepped silently into the dark and slung along the edge of the room, he could see the others doing the same. Eva jumped to the ceiling and grabbed hold of a balcony and pulled herself up on to it. Ry crouched down and aimed at a door; the door took a purple glow and moved out of the way. Three Turians and three asari walked in, Ry heard Trexo's voice in his ear.

"Cabal and they brought commandos" Trexo said "this will be interesting"

"Trexo stay hidden were you are we shall handle them" Hudson said. The six enemy troops cleared the room in text book fashion, as they moved the team silently got out of their way. As a Turian walked past Ry, he grabbed the alien and put a hand over its mouth and whispered in its ear.

"Not a sound" the Sangheili said. Ry pulled the Turian farther in a darkened area; he pulled him into an office and then stabbed his knife through the top of the Turians skull. Ry pressed himself against the wall and looked around the edge, he saw the five regroup at the window of the room.

"The rooms clear wait where did Fenvark go"

"They are still here, find them" an asari said. The enemy team moved out back into the room, they had night vision equipment but it wouldn't help them see the cloaked Sangheili and Spartans.

"Eva, wait for one to pass underneath you" Ry said. Ry saw Eva give him the ok hand sign. Ry watched as an asari walked past him, he pressed himself against the wall more. The asari fired a biotic singularity into the room; the biotic attack flew far enough into the room so Ry wouldn't be caught in the swirling energy. The asari scoffed and walked on.

"They aren't in there" she said. Ry reached out and grabbed a hold of her. She tried to scream out but Ry knocked her out with his pistol. One of the Turians fell to the ground dead, Hudson stood behind him with his knife and hand. Two Turians walked through the middle of the room and Eva jumped down on to them. The aliens were killed instantly as the female spartan jumped down on them and stuck a knife into both of them. The two remaining asari turned their weapons to the center of the room and fired just as Eva rolled backwards from the area. The asari's walked scanned the room with their assault rifles. Ry saw one of the asari's eyes go wide and then empty as blood ran down here head. The other wiped around firing wildly, Thenvel's shields flared and the asari hit him with a biotic charge knocking him back a ways. She shook her head but stopped when something grabbed her head and twisted it hard. She fell to the ground her neck broken by Arianna.

"Clear" she said and the team turned off their clocking devices. Ry walked over and threw the unconscious asari to the ground. Trexo got out from his hiding spot, in a vent near the floor.

"Eva, secure the hostage" Hudson said. Eva went over to the alien and pulled out a pair of cuffs. She looked the alien's wrist together and put her against a wall.

"Ok, Arianna and Thenvel spread out see what you can do about getting us food and water. The rest off you follow me and we will se what we can do about making this place secure" Hudson said.

April 28th 3232, 0945 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC FOB grid 22-34:

TJ walked over to Carrero, the two where patrolling around the outside of the wall. The wall had been made of burned up cars, desks and more crappy wields and duck tape then TJ cared to try and count. TJ scoffed and Carrero turned and looked at him.

"What Toe-Jam, we're just out for stroll" Carrero said.

"Im looking at that wall, it would only take one of those super tanks to knock it down" TJ said "At least they got us water and food"

"Yeah" Carrero said "Hold up, Turian"

TJ crouched down but gave Carrero a funny look as he walked over to a body. TJ stood up as Carrero crouched down and pulled the dead aliens jaw open.

"Yup, some one should have brushed his teeth" Carrero said and took his knife from its sheath. TJ watched as the spartan stuck the blade into the dead alien's mouth and set about cutting.

"What in the hell are you doing?" TJ asked the spartan. Carrero stopped and pulled something from the Turians mouth.

"These Turks got platinum teeth, platinum is worth what now? Like fifty an ounce?" Carrero said "I got like seven ounces of Turk silver, that's a bonus"

"I see why they call you Snafu" TJ said. Carrero looked back at him and laughed at the young spartan.

"We all get messed up from all this shit, they train us to do it not to dealt with it" Carrero said. He sheathed his knife and placed the teeth into a pocket in his armor.

"So, Toe-Jam where you grow up?" Carrero said.

"Chicago grew up in downtown and went to a private school" TJ said.

"Oh, that sounds nice" Snafu said "have a family?"

"Yeah, my dad was a spartan but he retired and now runs a stock broking business" TJ said "my sister should graduate high school in a month. What about you Carrero you got family"

"Nah, I grew up on Reach" Carrero said "my parents died and I grew up an only child"

"Oh, im sorry" TJ said.

"Don't be, anyway after I left high school the spartan program approached me and I joined" Carrero said "After the four years of training I was tossed into Sierra squad. The wells bro's were all ready there"

"What happened to the others?" TJ asked.

"Siberia happened" Carrero said "The wells, me and Angel were the only survivors of the squad, reason that they are so close besides being brothers. Command gave them commissions and the company had to reorganized and rebuilt. That is how we got the rest of the original squad"

"What happened on Siberia?" TJ asked.

"We don't talk about it; it took us four weeks of trauma therapy to get past it. It was like an infection and I don't want it again"

"Come on what could be that bad?" TJ said. Carrero grabbed him and slammed him into the wall.

"I said we don't talk about it ever!" Carrero growled at him. TJ nodded and Carrero put him down. The spartan looked at his Hispanic comrade, Snafu saw another Turian corpse and set to work again. TJ shook his head and looked away; he couldn't stand what was going on. He went over to a dead brute; he picked up its weapon and looked it over. It had a cylinder looking magazine in the rear in a bull-pup set up, a sight rail on the top and it looked quite rugged. He put it on his back; he thought that studying an enemy's weapon would give them an edge. He searched the brute's body and found an envelope, he looked at it. His language training had paid off and he could decipher the words.

"Helghast?" TJ said "Hey Carrero ever here of a planet called Helghast?"

**Please review.**


	16. Kau Shan

**Up to 44 favs and 45 alerts. 104 reviews and 22,277 hits, which is awesome. The last chapter got good feedback and to those who caught the reference to killzone, you will be surprised by what is happening with the killzone stuff. Any way enjoy chapter sixteen.**

April 28th 3232, 0204 SMT/ Black ops team temporary base:

"Hudson, looks like our captive is coming around" Ry said as he grabbed his weapon and pointed it right at the asari's head. Hudson gestured to Eva and she placed her pistol against the asari's head, the barrel was flush and her barriers would not be able to block the shoot. The asari's eyes snapped open and she went to move her head but the feeling of another pistol on the other side of her skull made her stop squirming.

"Good your awake, now I suggest you stop moving or I will let them pull the trigger" Hudson said and squatted down so he could see the asari better.

"You able to understand what I am saying?" Hudson asked her.

"Yes"

"Good, what is your name and rank?" Hudson asked her.

"Captain goes fuck yourself" the asari said "you don't scare me; I know you won't kill me spartan"

Hudson back handed her and the asari glared at him.

"See, despite what your governments may have learned about us there is much you don't know" Hudson said.

"Oh yeah, like what?" the asari captain asked.

"Well, for example you assume we are with the Marine Corps" Hudson said "but we are not here to talk about me, we are here to talk about you"

"Go to hell" she said. Hudson smacked her again and she spit out some teeth covered in blood.

"Fine, what would you like to know?" she asked.

"What was your mission?" Hudson asked.

"We were sent to find a run away that had crucial Intel that would give the humans an edge if they found it" she said "We were not out fitted to fight a god damn, what ever you are"

"Who sent you?" Hudson asked.

"The fairy god mother" she said before Hudson smacked her again and grabbed her face. She was forced to look at him; she couldn't see his eyes as they were hidden behind his signature shades.

"Tell me who or ill let the big scary one over there, well I let you us your imagination" Hudson said.

"Nithlo" she said. Hudson stood up and nodded to Ry.

"Wait, your not letting me go?" she said. She started to cry and Hudson held up his hand, the asari was in tears.

"This was supposed to be my first mission as a commando and now I wont even make it" she said trying to fight back tears. Hudson nodded to Ry and the elite hit her upside the head his pistol. She once again fell unconscious and crumpled to the floor.

"We need to get out of here" Eva said.

"I know but they won't be able to extract us just yet and I don't like the idea of having to keep knocking her out, she may get brain damage"

"Agreed but we need to take care of ourselves" Thenvel said.

"All right, you four get what ever sleep you can. Ill take first watch, Ry you got second watch at 0500" Hudson said. The group nodded and they went around the room to find a place to sleep. Ry went over to a spot in a darkened area and sat down in a corner, he leaned up against the wall. He closed his red eyes and started to drift off to sleep but he was awake enough to feel someone sit down next to him. A head fell on to his shoulder, the tickle of hair on his exposed skin and the smell wafted into his nose. He opened his eyes and saw Eva asleep on his shoulder, Ry put his arm around her and she snuggled in closer to him in her sleep. Ry felt more comfortable with Eva in his arms despite the combat zone that was only a stones throw away. Hudson stood at the window and watched the battle play out before him. He turned back and saw the elite and blonde spartan cuddled up. Thenvel was not able to sleep and walked up next to the spartan.

"Not able to sleep Thenvel?"

"No Hudson, im am not nether is Trexo apparently" Thenvel said as the Turian joined them.

"No, im still thinking if I did the right thing" Trexo said.

"If you decide differently we can put you back in that safe room" Thenvel said.

"No thanks, I would rather you just shot me" Trexo said. The three laughed and stared out at the city at war.

"Its ending is init?" Thenvel said.

"No, this is just the beginning" Hudson said.

May 2nd 3232, 1304 SMT/ Citadel:

Liara sat in the desk in her prothean history class, she usually paid attention but she was staring into space. The bell rang and the class quickly stood and headed for the door. Liara sighed and started to gather up her school supplies. She placed the her electronic textbook in to her bag, the young asari slowly made her way to the door but the professor, a Salarian called her over.

"Liara, can I speak with you?"

"Oh, of course" Liara said with a fake smile. She walked over to the professor's desk; the Salarian sat down in his chair and pulled out a data pad. He tapped on it and then set it down; Liara could make it out to be her latest paper.

"What is this about Professor Solco?" Liara asked confused "Did I get a bad grade on my paper?"

"No, not a bad grade at all by the normal standards but compared to the work you usually do it is quite sub-par" Solco said. Liara shifted uncomfortably where she stood. She hated getting told that her work was not as god as it could be; her work was what she had to pride herself on.

"It is still quite good but after a point the quality seems to drop off and couple with the fact that your usual enthusiasm for this class has diminished over the past two classes" Solco said looking at he young asari who was now crossing her arms, not in a rejecting sort of way but as if she were hugging herself and trying to shut the world out "It makes me think that something is wrong"

"It's nothing, im fine professor but thanks for your concern" she said quietly.

"Liara, you know you can talk to me about anything" Solco said his voice full of concern for the maiden. Liara nodded and sighed, her voice seemed to shutter as she tried to talk.

"Im fine really" Liara said as she made for the door.

"Liara, you are a bad liar im just try-" Solco began but was cut off by the asari.

"I said im fine!" Liara yelled as a tear came down her cheek, she ran from the class room as she did. Solco sighed and looked at his desk; he opened up the news feed on his tablet and started to thumb through the articles. The head lines caught his attention, it read "Turian win's Medal of Valor in Battle with Humans". He read through it and shook his head; _war causes nothing but pain_ he thought. He thumbed through the sections of the paper and passed the obituary section, he thought he recognized the name of one of the people and went back. He saw the picture of the asari; she had purple skin color and was pictured with none other than Liara. The name stuck out to him like a thorn in his hand, Tenana T'Soni. He fell back in his chair, his face was shocked. He couldn't believe it, Liara and her sister had been some of his best students. He knew Liara would never go anywhere near combat if she could help it, Tenana would however if she felt it was a just cause. He just couldn't understand why some one so young, some one with such a bright future had it snuffed out.

"That poor girl" He said "they didn't deserve this"

May 2nd 3232, 1315 SMT/ Citadel:

Garrus stood at the commanding officers desk, he stood tall and proudly. The commander looked up at him with a questioning glance.

"At ease Sargent" The Turian officer said still looking over a data pad "What can I do for you?"

"Sir, I would like to help in the training of those boot camp" Garrus said. The officer tapped something in on the pad before looking up at Garrus. He moved the pad out of the way and gestured to one of the seats on the other side of his desk. Garrus sat down in the seat and waited for the officer to answer his request.

"Well, there is a class that is in its final three weeks. There DI just had to get deployed, most of the time we prefer the DI's to be officers but we can make an exception in your case" The officer said.

"Anything I can do to help" Garrus said.

"Yes, that medal means they wont send you out to the front again but I can see where you are coming from Sargent" The officer tapped on his terminal "ill send the orders with the next burst and let you know"

"Thank you sir" Garrus said. He stood and gave the officer a salute before walking from the office. He headed out of the complex; many of the Turians gave him salutes and nods as he walked past them. He nodded and saluted back; he had given up telling them to stop and just dealt with it. He walked down the street; he saw one of the few parks that were on the citadel wards. He decided to walk through the park; the peaceful scenery helped him to relax a bit. He stepped on to the path which was off the ground and weaved in between the trees. He walked through the trees, enjoying the peace that the park offered from the quiet of that was offered by the natural place. He came to one of the observation platforms and went to the railing and looked out into the park. He could see the wards and the nebula through the large windows that covered the cityscape and the wards. The noise of footsteps drew the Turians attention and he turned to see an asari walk into view, she had her arms crossed and it was obvious to him that she had been crying. She sat down on one of the benches and wiped her eyes, she sniffled as she did. Garrus walked over to her, she sensed his presence and looked up at the Turian.

"Liara" Garrus said shocked.

"Garrus" Liara said equal as shocked. Garrus sat down next to her, she shuttered a bit.

"Im sorry" Garrus said staring off into space.

"Did she at least die quickly?" Liara asked. Garrus didn't know how to answer the question, part of him wanted to tell her the truth and another part wanted to make sure that Liara was comforted. Garrus sighed and decided that Honesty was the best policy.

"No" Garrus said flatly.

"What happened?" Liara asked. Garrus sighed again; he did not want to talk about the battle.

"I don't want to talk about it" Garrus said "But you have the right to know"

"Garrus its okay, you don't haft to tell me" Liara said placing a hand on his arm.

"No, its ok" Garrus said and sighed before he began. Liara listened to the Turian as he told her about the battle; her eyes were widened as he talked her through the battle.

"So as I ran back I picked her up and tried to get her to safety" Garrus said "I made it back to a safe area and started to call for a medic. It was too late; she made me promise her to get the letter to you before she died"

"Thank you" Liara said. Garrus nodded, his eyes started to go wide and he stared into space. Liara waved her hand in front of his face; he didn't react to her hand.

"Garrus, Garrus?" Liara asked. The sound of a something crashing reached the two's ears, Liara looked up but Garrus reacted in a way Liara would have never expected. Garrus tackled Liara to the ground, she yelped and Garrus pressed himself up against the wall around the deck.

"Incoming takes cover!" Garrus yelled. Liara was shocked as the Turian started to yell out more orders to soldiers that were not there. Liara grabbed him by the shoulders and the Turian looked at her.

"Garrus, its ok your not there. You are safe" Liara said. Garrus snapped out of it, he was breathing heavy and wide eyed. He looked around his head whipping side to side.

"How? What?" Garrus said between breaths.

"You had a flashback, come on lets get you to a clinic" Liara said concerned. Garrus stood up using the railing. His breath had started to calm down; he swallowed and straightened out his uniform.

"Im sorry miss T'Soni, ill just be going then" Garrus said.

"No its ok" Liara said "Lets get you some food, that might help you feel better"

Garrus stood there and thought it over.

"Ok" He said and Liara gave him a smile.

May 2nd 3232, 1405 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason sat on top off the remains of a scorpion tank, his helmet sat next to him and he leaned up against Cale's back. Julie sat against what remained of the turret mount. Jason took a black box from one of the hard cases on his leg and opened it up. Inside was a group of cigars, Julie leaned foreword and looked at the small collection.

"Want one?" Jason asked.

"New, I was just looking" Julie said leaning back against the turret mount.

"Ill take one" Cale said.

"All right then" Jason replied and started about cutting two of the cigars. Jason looked up in the sky; he could see the frigate that had come down from what ground troops referred to as "the overhead". It had had been supporting them for the last two days, dropping supplies, reinforcements and most importantly the Engineers. The Huragok had come down from the frigate and started to repair and build. They had repaired the main base in little more than two days working nonstop, the group that had arrived at what was now known as "Camp Kau Shan" for the office building that they had set up in. The Kau Shan Company, by coincidence was the company that wrote most of the software that went into their armor. TJ and Carrero walked over to them, the two had become some what of friends and often were around each other.

"Nothing to report" Carrero said and hopped up onto the tank and sat down on the tread cover. He pulled a cigarette from his armor and pulled his helmet off.

"Hey, Jason got a light?" Carrero asked. Jason pulled a match from a box and struck it on the tanks armor. He lit Carrere's cigarette for him.

"Want a smoke TJ?" Carrero asked.

"No, im good" TJ said right before an artillery shell smashed into the ground nearby.

"Incoming!" some one yelled. Jason quickly tossed the cigars into the box and grabbed his helmet. Carrero tossed the cigarette and dived from the tank to the ground. Julie leapt off the broken hulk just before it erupted from hostile fire. Jason was knocked to the ground and scrambled into a foxhole in the street. He slammed his helmet back on his head, the HUD sprang to life.

"Jason, we got issues the brutes are moving on the south side street!" Yazid yelled from inside the office building. Jason glanced and saw the others in the same foxhole, they had weapons in hand.

"Move it!" Jason yelled and led the spartans into the office building. Yazid, Darrel and Angelica were at the top of the rubble pile that lead into the building that had become an unofficial ramp. Four other spartans ran and the others joined them as they headed to the combat zone.

"The brutes are assaulting us; luckily they don't have any tanks with them!" Yazid yelled as they round a corner "this is only the front of what they are sending SATs show the force is at least two full companies and they have full fire support!"

Jason took cover as spike rounds flew through the all ready shattered windows and into the building. He peaked over and saw a massive brute force heading for them. The ape like aliens moved up the street and towards the UNSC base, grenades from their launchers flew and smashed the sides of the building. Jason moved along the wall underneath the windows, he stopped and peaked over again. He saw a few brutes making a break for a foxhole in the middle of the street. He quickly stood and fired his weapon, one brute stumbled and died but the others were luckier as their comrades suppressed the human's positions and forced them behind cover. Jason felt the ground shake as artillery fire smashed into the front of the building, the marines in positions outside were obliterated. Jason fired his weapon again and ducked down before he was turned into a pin cushion.

"Jason! We need fire support!" Yazid yelled.

"Get on it!" Jason yelled out and fired his weapon again. Another artillery shell smashed into the building and part of the ceiling came crashing down as the round hit the floor above them.

"Yazid stay here with Angel, Carrero and TJ!" Jason yelled "Cale, Darrel on me!"

Jason sprinted down the hall with the other two close behind. They ran past marines that fired at the enemy as they advanced at them from down the street, many got shot down and the calls for corpsmen were every where. Jason found the stair case and ran to the landing but ignored the stairs and hopped the railing landing at the bottom of the steps. He ran out of the door, rounds smashed into the brick wall around him. The other spartans followed behind him, Jason took cover near Sledge. The spartans joined their brothers behind cover and started to fire at the enemy.

"Jason, we have an air strike in bound, ETA ten minutes!" Yazid said over the comm. net.

"Understood!" Jason yelled back through the comm. net "Sledge, get your squad and follow me!"

"Yes sir, Squad on me!" Sledge yelled to his squad "Marines give us covering fire!"

The marines poured more fire onto the brutes that had stopped their advance as more UNSC forces joined the fight. Jason led Sledge and the others to a machine gun nest that was on the other side of the building and not under fire; he picked one of the machine guns up. The tripod folded automatically under the machine gun and Jason put it on his back.

"Someone grab the other one, Sledge get as much C5 as you can carry" Jason ordered. The spartans quickly set about gathering machine gun rounds and other weapons. TJ whistled as he opened a weapons crate, inside was blocks of C5 and rocket launchers.

"Everyone grabbed a rocket launcher" Jason said. The spartans quickly handed the weapons out and the extra ammo with it. Sledge packed the C5 away, he nodded to Jason.

Jason peaked around the corner and saw no hostiles but he could hear the sounds of the battle on the side street. He motioned for the spartans to move out and down the street, they quickly did as ordered and moved down the street. Jason followed them and they regrouped after they got next to one of the buildings.

"Follow me" Jason said and lead those down the street to they came up right next to the brute positions. Jason looked down the alley between two buildings one of which he was pressed up against. He motioned the other spartans to run past the alleyway. The other spartans ran past the alley way as silently as possible, Jason watched as the brutes didn't notice. He heard the rumbled of one of their tanks rolling down the street. Jason rolled across the alley way to the other side and led the spartans into the building. They came to the side where the brutes were, a solid wall separated them. The room was obviously part of a warehouse; the large garage doors on one side reinforced that idea along with all the crates around the room.

"Sledge set up the C5 all along this wall, set it for breaching" Jason said as he set the machinegun down behind a desk that was on its side "Set that gun up and get them manned"

The spartans quickly set the other gun up as Sledge and two others set the explosives up.

"Every one get your rocket launcher ready, as soon as that air strike hits ill blow the C5 and that wall will fall apart from the shaped charges. As soon as the wall is out of the way, fire your rocket launchers into the brutes and machine guns start tearing them up" Jason said as he racked the first round into the machinegun.

"Jason, they have a tank!" Yazid said over the comms.

"I know" Jason said "just keep fighting that strike is only seconds away"

"Yes sir!" Yazid said "Allah save us all"

Jason gripped the handle on the machinegun tighter and got ready to fire as the timer in his HUD counted down. At zero the ground shook as the longswords flew overhead and started to drop ordnance on the enemy. After the last tremor Sledge hit the detonator and the exploded out word as the shaped charges detonated. Jason saw the brutes in disarray and then squeeze the trigger on the gun, the aliens didn't know what hit them as twenty two rockets soared from the building into their positions, the cover they had didn't offer them protection from the new threat. The two machineguns tore the brutes apart as they scrambled to get behind adequate cover or just run. The belt soared through Jason's gun as the barrels spun and more brutes dropped. Those that managed to get behind cover were forced to stay down as the machineguns blared along with the other spartans rifles. Jason heard the sound of a large casing hitting the pavement, he knew exactly what was about to happen.

"Run!" Jason yelled ditching the gun just as the brute tank fired a shell into the room. The explosion engulfed two spartans. The others managed to survive the blast with out dying though a few were wounded. Jason managed to take cover behind a pallet of crates; he looked and saw the tank taking aim again. The machine guns fired at the humans down the street.

"TJ, Cale on me!" Jason said before running out from behind the crates. The other two spartans sprinted after him as he ran at the tank. TJ took a block of C5 from one of the pouches on his leg and activated the detonation device and pulled the trigger from the block. It was ready to go as soon as he pressed the trigger button. The tanks main gun tried to turn to fire on the charging spartans but couldn't turn quick enough. Jason leapt on top of the tank, the others quickly followed him. He grabbed the commander's hatch and tore it off as he ran past. He ran along the length of the tank and jumped off the other side; he saw a brute look up at him. He threw the hatch he tore off at the alien and knocked it to the ground, he quickly fired his rifle into it and the brute died. Jason snapped his rifle to another brute as he ran. TJ and Carrero followed Jason onto the tank, TJ dropped the charge into the tanks hatch and Carrero dropped in a grenade. The two jumped from the back of the tank just as Jason hit the ground. They ran and fired at the brutes, Jason dove through a window and pressed him self against the wall. The other two did the same thing as spikes from the brute's weapons filled the wall on the other side.

"TJ!" Jason yelled and the young spartan pressed the trigger button. A loud explosion filled the street as the explosive compound in the tank went off. Jason looked outside and saw that the tank's turret had been blown of and the front portion was split open. The brutes that were left started to fire again.

"Jason, you need to get out of there!" Sledge yelled "We just got navy support authorized and Yazid called in a broken arrow!" Jason's eyes went wide.

"We are already on our way back towards the camp but you got too many out front I suggest you ran the other way, the river will be your best beat!" Sledge yelled over the radio.

"We got to move now!" Jason yelled and he took off to the back of the small store front and kicked in a door that lead to the back. The other two followed behind him and they ran through door after door before coming to the atrium of what they now could tell was a shopping center.

"Well, I could us a new shirt" Cale said.

"Shut the fuck up and keep running!" Jason yelled. The other two sprinted after the spartan that leapt down from the second story hit the ground and rolled. He was right back up and heading for the large glass doors on the other side. They could see a brute force outside of it trying to flank the camp but it wouldn't matter in a few seconds. Jason jumped through the door and tore across the street. At the other side was their life savor, the Rango River. Jason slung is rifle and dove for the water, the other two behind him.

A brute glanced at his fellow a little perplexed.

"What was that all about?" it asked of its comrade. The sound of something flying caught their attention; they looked up and saw what looked like spears headed right for them from the frigate that was overhead. They hadn't expected that and they wouldn't get to contemplate much more as the napalm filled Archer missiles started to smash into the entire area. The brute force was moving through an area about one square half mile and in a few seconds everything was burning as an untold number of archer missiles began to explode sending gallons upon gallons of burning napalm into the area. Jason watched as a massive fireball blossomed over the river, the water maneuvering jets on the back of his armor had engaged and were keeping him afloat. Jason broke the surface; the massive fireball had climbed up into the air and was diminishing. The screams of burning Brutes reached his ears. He swam over to the edge near the rivers bank and climbed from the water. He held his hand out to Cale who took it and Jason pulled him from the water. Cale turned and helped TJ out of the water. The three dripping went spartans walked over to one of the service ladders and climbed up. Jason pulled himself over the edge and saw the damage that the broken arrow strike had done. He saw the burning, charred remains of the brutes strum across the ground and the wreckage of a few brute APC's that had been near them. The vehicles had been hit by the missiles and were wrecked. TJ whistled as surveyed the damage done to the enemy.

"Why don't we use that more often?" TJ asked.

"Because that's the first time it's ever been used in battle" Jason said.

"What? Why?" TJ asked bewildered.

"Simple Toe-Jam, we never had to use it before" Carrero said.

"Come on lets get back to base" Jason said.

May 9th 3232, 1342 SMT/ Heaven/ UNSC main base in Adamscrest:

Hudson stepped out of the back of the Pelican dropship; his team followed him off with their prisoner in tow. She had agreed not to try anything due to the fact that she had a block of C5 strapped to her that would trigger if the cuffs on her wrists were broken. She stepped off, the least they had done for her is redo the cuffs in front of her so she could drink and eat. Hudson raised an arm to protect his face as the pelican soared off again and kicked up dust from the landing pad. The pad was just a clearing in the park that had turned into Camp Adams; Hudson looked around and saw the many makeshift barracks. He turned and looked at his team; they had been living off what they could scavenge for a few days before they got new orders to assist the campaign on Heaven in any way they could. A marine officer came walking up to the team, he wore the regular NWU and the colonel insignia was seen on his color and cover.

"Sir" Hudson said giving him a salute. The colonel returned the salute the other team members did the same, except for the Sangheili who did a Sangheili salute and Trexo who did the Turian salute.

"There better be a good reason that Turian is not in cuffs" the colonel said.

"Sir, if we can go some where private we will fill you in" Hudson said "And if it's not too much food and water. Give whatever Turian rations we found to Trexo"

"All right, follow me" the colonel said as he stepped off and head into the base.

"What is the situation now sir?" Hudson asked as they walked along the barracks rows towards the command tent.

"We secure the rest of the city on the Second, the brutes had sent a force to try to take out one of our FOBs, but they called in Broken Arrow" The colonel said.

"Broken Arrow sir?" Hudson inquired.

"Basically the biggest fuck you ever, that frigate up there sends napalm filled Archer missiles into the enemy. We prefer not to use it for obvious reasons, its only able to be authorized if base is going to be over run" the colonel said as he lead them around a corner in the road "After we forced the hostiles from the city we managed to make our FOBs livable and rebuild this camp and improve it. The Turks and apes have been forced back in the overhead and are currently holding the space near Voscow. They are landing troops to reinforce their units in the city, we are doing the same. The enemy also has been fighting tooth and nail with our boys from the 7th in Rockven. We are losing that city; it's only a matter of time. The Recor Jungle separates them from us and the enemy owned it all for awhile"

"Sir, what is our mission now?" Ry asked.

"We are to find the main hostile base in the jungle and take it out, that along with running all sorts of guerrilla warfare on their units moving to Voscow along the roads in the jungle. We have also been tasked with clearing out the enemy triple A so the 7th can come back here and regroup. However that is the 9th MEF's mission, not yours" the colonel said "yours is far more sensitive in nature"

The eight people reached their destination, a large tent that was obviously a command tent. The two Marine guards pulled the flap open and the team walked on inside being the lead by the Colonel. The tent was full of radio operators, command staff and war maps. The place was a hive of activity and not one person seemed to be slowing down. The colonel lead them into a secure room that had been brought in, it was a shipping container converted to be used as a secure briefing room.

"MPs, take their hostage to the brig" the colonel said. Four marines came over, two grabbed the asari by her arms and the other two took up positions in front and behind to lead her through the camp.

"Get your grubby hands off me" she said.

"Let go of her she wont try to escape" Hudson said and pulled the C5 charge off her chest "She knows she won't get far"

"Yes sir, turn lose of the captive" the MP said. The four lead her away and Hudson could tell she was relived to have the explosive removed from her body.

"Hudson" the colonel said. Hudson turned and was lead into the secure room; Ry shut the door behind them.

"Take a seat" Patton, the colonel, said. Hudson pulled one of the office style chairs out from the table in the center of the room.

"Sir, our mission?" Hudson asked.

"As you are aware the covenant have shown up and have made this battle much harder" Patton began "Two days ago we received a message from a marine's comm. line but the marine was not the one who was talking. In stead it was a brute, our translators made the message understandable"

"May we hear it?" Thenvel asked intrigued. Patton pressed a button on the table and the audio recording started up again.

"To the UNSC, this is Sargent Sevor of the Covenant armed forces. We do not wish to fight you, nor wish to be part of the covenant any more. We wish to seek your help in leaving the covenant, not just me but my entire people. We are not the Jiralhane anymore; we can't not say to much less the officers hear us. If you are willing to help us we will activate the distress beacon in a downed UNSC aircraft in Rockven. Go to it and we will meet you there"

The team sat in shock from the message; they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"The beacon has been active since 0300 this morning" Patton said "Your mission is to meet the Brutes, and radio in once you do. You will be going in with another spartan squad; we want to make sure that this is done properly and with as little risk as possible"

"So, why do we need another squad?" Eva asked.

"We need to make this look like a pilot rescue to the covenant and Turians, we don't want them to find out we have made contact with what we expect is a brute rebellion" the colonel said "besides extra firepower never hurt anyone"

"Agreed, what squad are we going with?" Hudson asked.

"You have fought with them before, Sierra squad is going with you" Patton said before the door opened. Hudson looked back and saw the squad's leader, major John Wells walk in. He was in his full armor and looked ready to go, he held out his hand to Hudson.

"Hudson its good to work with you again" John said as Hudson shook his hand.

"Same, where are the others?" Hudson asked.

"I got knocked out and had to be move back here for aid" John said "so we are going to meet them at their FOB and then we are going to rearm, resupply"

"All right you have your mission, you will be going in at night so that means get your rest and chow" Patton said "Get to it"

May 9th 3232, 1603 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

"He's here" Hudson said. John and Hudson stepped out of the tent; the sunlight blinded them for a second. Some dust kicked up as a falcon came down and hovered over the ground. John looked up and saw his brother hanging from the side of the falcon; his armor was covered in grim. He had his helmet off which was hooked up to his belt, he had his rifle in one had. He looked like he hadn't shaved in awhile, his face had dirt on it and his eye patch had a stain on it. He stepped off the falcon and it flew away, he walked up to his brother he had a large gash on his cheek.

"Jason, you look like hammered shit" John said.

"Looks don't count for shit in the Jungle, this is war baby" Jason replied with a goofy looking smile on his face.

"Hudson, ONI"

Jason just scoffed a bit and led them over to a puma. He took the front passenger seat and the other two spartans sat in the back.

"You get the mission file?" Hudson asked.

"Yeah, I did" Jason said as the puma metered off.

"What's been going on since I was gone?" John asked.

"Ill fill you in, we set this place up the day you got knocked out" Jason began "Kau Shan became our lunching point for operations in the jungle. We mostly due S and D, Sabotage, convoy ambush, the works. Right now though we are trying to find the Turk base in the jungle along with their triple A. Which is harder than it sounds since it's mobile and moves everyday, makes our lives hell. Except now we got this crazy shit to deal with"

The jeep stopped outside the office building that had become the hub of the base and the three stepped off.

"Get what supplies you need and be ready to leave at 2100" Hudson said "Bring lots of ammo"

"I thought this was just a smile extraction" Jason said.

"Murphy's laws Jason, anything that can go wrong will go FUBAR before we know what just happened" Hudson said "Bring ammo"

**Please Review and vote in the poll**


	17. Midnight in Rockven

**Sorry for an other long wait but I my English class is kicking my ass. Any way I watched Armageddon recently for like the hundredth time and wanted to incorporate it some how some its part of human history and gets referenced in this chapter. The polls are still open, as always please review. Till next time.**

May 10th 3232, 0004 SMT/ Heaven/ Rockven:

Jason sat on the edge of the osprey's troop bay, he could see out across the city below. Fires raged as the battle between the Turians and humans were fought out. The sound of combat couldn't be heard but the spartans could see the war in all its horrendous beauty. The aircrafts rotors whirred above them silently, the special forces modified dropship soared overhead. They were headed for a landing zone half a kilometer from the beacons location. He looked back and saw the other two osprey craft behind them; they flew through the darkness of night. The moon silhouetted behind them as the aircraft dipped down under the thick clouds that covered the city and headed for the streets.

"We are in the pipe five by five" the pilot said "Eta to drop point, three minutes"

"Roger that" Hudson said. He put his hand on Jason's shoulder; the spartan looked back at him.

"You ever us a drop pack before?" Hudson asked.

"Only the training jumps and they weren't from this high up" Jason said. He checked the drop packs hook ups on his armor, the connections were solid and he was read to go. His rifle was looked to the side of the pack and he had his pistol ready to go incase they were engaged as soon as they touched ground. Jason's left wrist usually had a bracer attached to it but now it was the control system for the drop pack.

"Don't worry, its more fun than you know" Hudson said. Jason looked at the others he was dropping in with from the osprey. Ry sat on the other step up on the other side of the aircraft, Hudson and Eva sat in the two front seats. TJ was shaking like a leaf in the back one by the tail, he was looking at the ground and his hands twitched.

"TJ relax, your going to be fine" Jason said "If it's any help this is my first time using one of these things to"

"Yeah, not much" TJ said before taking a deep breath. Jason looked down at his altimeter, its readout made him swallow as he realized what was about to happen. The device read forty five thousand feet; he looked down at the city below his dangling feet.

"Hey John, having any second thoughts about this?" Jason asked gulping.

"Oh yeah" John said. Ry chuckled can turned to Jason.

"It's really a different experience without being incased in a pod" Ry said.

"Thirty seconds till drop point" the pilot said. Jason snapped back foreword and stared out in front of him. Hudson stood up along with Eva, the two stood behind their fellow warriors that were sitting on the floor of the osprey.

"Remember the challenge is Alamo, response is Crockett" Hudson said to the team.

"Go get'em spartans" the marine gunner said next to Jason.

"We are at drop point, you are go" the pilot said. Jason took one deep breath before yelling out.

"Oorah!" Jason pushed himself out of the osprey's troop bay and into the night sky. Ry did the same on the other side. Jason quickly assumed the spread eagle position as they had been taught way back when if they ever had to use the drop packs which were set to fire at only three thousand feet above ground. Jason looked around; he felt weight less as he fell through the sky in freefall. He looked up around and saw the other members of his squad around him.

"Holy shit!" TJ yelled "this is unbelievable!"

Just then Jason saw Hudson and the other five below them, they weren't in the spread eagle position to slow their decent but they had literally swan dived from the osprey and were soaring like Olympic divers for the warzone below.

"Those ONI guys are bat shit crazy!" Carrero yelled out.

"Im going for it!" Julie yelled and she tilted herself down and shot off like a rocket for the ground.

"Fuck it!" Cale said and did the same.

"See ya John!" Jason yelled out and tilted himself down towards the ground. He felt his body accelerate as it shot for the ground, he looked at his altimeter and found it counting down like a stopwatch.

"Go flat out!" Hudson said. All the spartans and Sangheili went spread eagle, their descent slowed up and the three regular spartans caught up to them. They went spread eagle and got on equal level with the ONI guys.

"Is this the kind of shit you guys do?" Jason asked them.

"All the time!" Eva said.

"Sign me up!" Jason said causing the others to laugh.

"Albright goes straight feet first!" Ry ordered and they did. Jason heard the sound of the pack engage; he looked down at the ground and could see it rushing up. It slowed up as the drop pack engaged and gave countering thrust to his freefall. It burned slowly so that he was still descending rapidly but beginning to approach a safe landing speed. He felt the pack fire up to full strength and a few seconds latter he hit the ground, his training took over and he rolled to absorb the impact. As soon as he was out of his roll he had his pistol drawn and pointed down range. The immediate area was secure; he heard the others land behind him.

"Get off the streets" Hudson whispered to the team. They quickly ran over to a wreaked store front. Jason leapt the display window and into the store, he scanned the room with his pistol before turning his head back to the other six.

"It's clear" Jason said. They quickly jumped on in and crouched in the dark to remain hidden. The rest of the squad landed behind them, they executed the landing flawlessly and John looked around.

"John to your left in the store front" Jason whispered. John gave a quick hand signal to the others and they all ran over to the store. They jumped on through the window, the group had regrouped and now waited for Hudson's orders.

"That was fucking awesome" Angel said.

"Yeah for once you got to do something related to your name" Darrel said. John smacked him on the back of his head.

"Don't make crappy jokes in a warzone" John said.

"All right, we got blown of course a bit and landed one quarter a click to far" Hudson said "We are going to have to more fast because they definitely noticed us, damn"

"Agreed but first ditch the packs" John said.

"No, keep them on we can't leave any evidence we were here" Hudson said "Now grabbed your weapons, suppressors on. No explosives unless I say"

"Got it" Jason, Carrero and Cale said as they grabbed their rifles. Jason pulled the suppressor from a pouch in his armor and quickly attached it to the end of his weapon. The other spartans did the same; the sound of something moving down the street caught their attention.

"Hudson, this is Veronica. We got you covered from over head, you better move because there is a massive patrol headed your way"

"Got it, lets move" Hudson said and led the team through a door in the back of the small store. They came out into from what Jason could tell was the storage room of the store; Jason heard the sound of tanks outside as their treads rolled across the pavement. He pressed himself against the wall and activated his cloaking device that they all had been given for the mission. He heard the tanks stop and the sound of the hatches opening up; they hit the ground with a thud. Jason looked around and saw his fellow soldiers all hiding as best they could. He silently as possible walked back along the wall farther from the door and crouched down in the dark. They couldn't get seen or there was no way they would make it out of the area alive. The sound of footsteps in the hardwood floor of the store destroyed the dead silence that had been in the small place before.

"Jason, there is a door behind you open it" Hudson whispered through the comms, he didn't worry about being heard since the team all had helmets this time.

"Ok" Jason whispered back. He turned and opened the door; he prayed silently that the hinges wouldn't squeak as he pushed it open. The door swung open with out much of a sound and Jason kept it from making any noise as the stop at the top of the door would have creaked. He looked around through the door and found that it lead into an alley way that had a solid wall at the end where the street they had landed on was.

"It's clear" Jason said. He stepped outside of the small store and into the alley way, he pressed himself up against the wall. He slunk along the wall as his comrades filled out of the room and did the same. He stopped at the end of the wall and looked around the corner; Hudson came up next to him. Their cloaks kept them hidden from view so any hostiles wouldn't be able to see them but their HUDs outlined them and their teammates so they could see what was going on. Jason looked around the street, it was not a buzz of activity but he saw a brute observation post set up inside of a high rise on the tenth floor.

"High rise tenth floor, I think that is a Brute OP" Jason said as he raised his rifle and used the zoom on the scope to see the place better "Yeah that is defiantly an OP and they got some sort of spotting scope up there"

Hudson zoomed in with his visor and could see the scope that Jason was talking about.

"Yeah, Ry you know covenant Tech" Hudson said "Look at that scope"

The elite snaked his head around the edge of the building and got a clear line of sight on the brute op.

"It's a thermal scope, our cloaks are not able to block the heat generated by our suits we will be as visible to them" Ry said "looks on manned but im not one hundred percent sure that it's not a sensor of some kind"

The three quickly got back into the alleyway to avoid the scopes gaze. Hudson looked around the street, they couldn't go up the side streets and trying to find their way through the buildings would take to long and besides they needed to cross the street anyway.

"Veronica you got us on scope?" Hudson asked.

"Yes we see you" Veronica said.

"At the end of the street where it splits into a T is a brute OP and if Ry is right they got thermal scopes" Hudson said.

"Great, ok we can't fire an EMP bomb with out alerting them" Veronica said "Ok Sarah, any ideas you are the AI"

"Yes, go through the sewer systems" Sarah said "The brutes wont be patrolling them and they fallow the streets as long as you stay in the storm drain tunnels and don't branch off"

"Great" Eva said sarcastically "Tunnels, stench and brutes with thermal equipment. My nights just been ruined"

"Ill send you a map of the sewers and Eva quit bitching" Sarah said. Hudson looked around for a manhole or grate. He spotted a grate at the back of the alley way, he lead the team over to it.

"Cut a hole" Hudson ordered flatly. Ry activated his plasma dagger in his fore arm and cut around the edge of the grate. John and Jason grabbed it so it wouldn't fall. They felt the weight suddenly come on as the elite cut the last part of the grate; it wasn't heavy for the spartans. They picked it up and held it up as the team all silently climbed down into the tunnel.

"Whatever you are doing do it quick because you have in bound Brute dropships" Veronica said over the commline. John and Jason put the grate down on the ground and climbed down into the tunnel right. They got up against the wall as the brute dropship flew overhead, Jason could see instead of a flashlight it had one of the thermal scopes mounted on it.

"Lets move and keep it quite" Hudson said leading the team into the sewers "You came along as extra firepower doesn't mean we need to use it"

May 10th 3232, 0023 SMT/ Heaven/ Rockven/Beacon sight:

Hudson pulled a snake cam from a pocket in his armor and hooked it up to his HUD; a small window appeared to show what the camera did. Hudson pushed it through one of the vent holes in the man hole that covered the ladder that he was standing on. The others were below him waiting for the all clear sign. Hudson watched as he twisted the camera around, his eyes scanning for any hostile presence. The camera showed him where the Longsword had crashed which was thankfully inside of a building that he could make out to be a school. He was relived because they would be able to due the meeting under cover and not be exposed. He pivoted the camera so he could see more of the school and saw a side door that had the large window in it shattered.

"Perfect" Hudson said and pulled the camera back. He stuck the device back in his armor and looked down below him.

"Jason, Carrero, Julie, Eva, Thenvel, Cale and Angel follow me" Hudson said "Ry keep them down here and safe till I say we are meeting back here"

"Got it" Ry said.

"If we don't radio in after three minutes leave" Hudson said as he grabbed his rifle and placed the muzzle on the under side of the man hole cover and activated his cloak. The spartans he called waited at the bottom of the ladder as Hudson pushed the cap off with his gun and slid it so it didn't cover the man hole at all. Hudson climbed out so he had his rifle at the ready as he did, once he got to the top he went prone on the road as the others climbed out.

"That school, move" Hudson said and lead the team across the road. He led them up to the side door and they stacked up near the door. Julie was in the back and tapped Cale on the shoulder that passed it up the line till it got to Hudson who led them into the building. The team quickly slipped into the building and headed down the hall of the darkened school. At the end was a smashed full size wall window and a windy breeze blew through it. Papers that were on the ground fluttered into the air as the six humans walked down the hall unseen and their weapons rose. Jason saw that the building had been ravaged by war, many of the doors had been kicked in and in the classrooms he could see holes in the walls and ceiling from artillery shells.

"Hudson Brute patrol, passing by that window in fifteen seconds" Veronica said "Get in cover"

Hudson and the team ducked into a classroom not a moment to soon as the brutes walked on by. Jason pressed himself against the wall; he looked around the class room. The desks were all over the place, there was a hole in the roof from an artillery shell and the room was covered in blown apart books and other school supplies. Jason looked down and picked up a teddy bear that had burns all over it. His motion tracker was full of red dots were the patrol was moving but something caught his eye on the tracker. It was three yellow dots that were moving in the center of the room but he could see no one there and if they were cloaked he would have had them outlined. Jason slowly walked to the center of the room and looked around, he looked up into the sky just as the clouds opened up and rain poured into the room.

"Great, rain makes cloaking useless" Julie said. Jason saw what had caused the three dots to appear; in the vent was a kid.

"Hudson we got civilians" Jason said.

"What?" Hudson said disbelievingly. Jason waved him over and pointed to the kid that was in the vent, the child shrank back at the sight of the nanosuit wearing spartan. Jason removed his helmet so the kid could see his face; he placed his helmet down on the rubble.

"We are clear, brutes are gone" Julie said and walked over to the group.

"Hey" Jason said to the kids trying to sound as nice as possible "What's your name?"

"Tommy" the kid said quietly.

"Im Jason" the spartan said "who are your friends?"

"Katie and Sarah, we were hiding from the monsters" Tommy said "Are you scared of the monsters?"

"No, more like the monsters are scared of us" Jason said with a smile "come on lets get you out of there, im not"

Tommy nodded and slid his upper body out of the vent. Jason caught him and set him on the ground. Next came a little blonde girl and a red head girl.

"All right lets get you out of the rain" Julie said and they headed into the classroom. Jason picked up his helmet and walked over to where Julie had lead the kids to. They sat down on the floor and Jason crouched down next to Julie. Julie took off her helmet and smiled at the kids, they couldn't be any older then seven or eight.

"Hey, your hairs red just like mine" one of the girls said to Julie.

"Yeah, but your prettier" Julie said to make the girl feel better "What's your name?"

"Sarah Shepherd"

"So this one here is Katie" Jason said. The blonde girl didn't talk much but nodded in response to Jason.

"How old are you Katie?" Jason asked the girl. She held up one hand with all her fingers spread out. Jason picked up the teddy bear he had found earlier and handed it to the little blonde girl. She took it and hugged it close to her; she looked up and gave the spartan a smile. Jason smiled back and patted her head; Katie hugged the teddy bear close and moved side to side. Jason looked at Tommy who looked to be the oldest of the group at all of eight. The young black boy seemed to be watching everything carefully. Jason looked at Sarah; she was busy talking quietly with Julie and giggled a bit.

"Jason, what are we going to do next?" Tommy asked the spartan.

"Let us worry about that" Jason said.

"No, it's my job to protect these girls" Tommy said "Just like my daddy"

Jason looked the young kid in the eye and didn't see that youthful innocence but rather it was like looking into the eyes of another soldier.

"Ill check what we are going to do" Jason said "And get back to you"

Tommy nodded and went back to watching the area like a hawk. Jason went over to Hudson who was busy talking to veronica, he held up his hand in the universal one minute sign. He nodded and then turned to look at Jason.

"Ok, we are still meeting with the brutes but first things first we need to get these kids to safety"

"Agreed, im surprised they made it this long" Jason said "Tough kids, that Tommy is all ready a hard ass"

"Well, looks like we have a future spartan in our mists" Ry said. The group chuckled before Hudson cut in.

"All right, Eva, Cale and Julie take the kids back down to the sewer with the other group. Keep them safe" Hudson said. Julie stood up and nodded before slipping her scout helmet back on her head. Eva walked over and the kids shied back a bit except for Tommy who stood his ground in front of the two. Eva removed her helmet and the kids relaxed a bit.

"See not scary" Eva said before putting her helmet back on. Jason walked over and looked at Tommy.

"Tommy, you are going with Julie, Eva and Cale" Jason said "Keep Sarah and Katie safe, that's an order soldier"

"Yes sir" Tommy said to the spartan with a nod. The three spartans lead the kids into the hall and towards the safety offered by the sewer.

"All right the rest of you on me and let's get going" Hudson said and lead the team back to the hall. They quickly ran down the hall as silent as possible and to the doors leading into the gym but the school was quite large and it took them a good five minutes. Hudson held up his fist and the team stopped. The spartans and single Sangheili quickly stacked up on the door and repeated the breaching ritual. They silently entered the gym to see a group of brutes waiting for them sitting on chair around a fire made in a drum. The ape like aliens turned on the humans, their weapons were ready and the group was ready as well.

"Alamo" one of the brute said.

"Crockett" Hudson said and the group dropped their weapons to their sides.

"Sargent Sevor" A brute said and held out his hand. Hudson took and shook the brute's hand.

"Hudson, im not allowed to say more"

"Understandable, now we have a lot to discuss but we can't do it here" the Sargent said.

"Ok, have your troops load up and we will get you out of here" Hudson said.

"Thank you, troops load get your supplest and lets get moving" Sevor said. The brutes went about gathering their supplies, Jason walked over to Hudson and the Sargent.

"I hope that your race is as great as they say it is Human" Sevor said.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"Your species has become a beacon of hope for all Helghan every where" Sevor said "the race that is willing to scarf ice everything for what is right, not what is easy, a race that when tried was able to set aside its differences and win its survival not once but twice once against us and once you beat the very force of the universe. One that will stand up for the oppressed no matter who they are, what they are or who they was. We have never forgotten that it was not a Sangheili or a Jiralhane that saved the galaxy from the flood but rather a Human. You are our last hope for freedom"

"What do you mean freedom" Jason asked the brute.

"After the war the covenant become corrupt and full of greed, those who took power during the civil war kept it and the rest of us are almost slaves" Sevor began "Now, a resistance has formed that started on Helghast. They tried to win once but we were defeated but with your help we can destroy the covenant once more, my people can be free and we maybe will be able to redeem our past"

Jason placed a hand on the brutes shoulder.

"Sevor, I swear to you we will free your people" Jason said "But first we need to get out of here"

"Yes, now let's move you can explain to us more latter" Hudson said. He went for the doors but they flew open as a Brute chieftain walked through leading more soldiers in.

"Surrender traitor, or don't that would be more fun"

The all the troops in the room raised their weapons and pointed them at the brutes that just walked in. Jason stood next to Sevor, and down the line that had formed a Spartan stood next to a Sangheili and that Sangheili stood next to its old enemy ready to fight and die with him.

"I speak for everyone when I say, go fuck you" Jason said. The brutes that had been lead in by the chieftain looked concerned, they didn't want to die.

"You will stand your ground maggots" the chieftain said.

"Are you going to oppressed more my brothers?" Sevor said. The brute soldiers glanced at each other and backed away from the chieftain. Most of them pointed their weapons at the brute and those that didn't had a weapon level with their heads as well, it let out a roar right before the combined fire of twenty weapons ripped him and the others who did not join them apart. The chieftain didn't falter but charged right at Sevor, the brute didn't make it and dropped dead to the floor at the Sergeants feet.

"Our time is now, your is done Jiralhane" Sevor said "From this day on we are Helghan"

"All right shake sphere lets move out" Hudson said and the group ran from the school. They came to the side door and could see the tank that the brutes had arrived in parked outside.

"Hudson, we take that tank then we could have no problem getting out of here" Sevor said.

"Yes but how many of your comrades are going to be willing to do what those in the gym just did?"

"Only some, not all they are to scared" Sevor said "and I will kill them for they are no longer my people but my enemy"

"Ok, Jason, Thenvel I want that tank taken care of" Hudson said.

"We are not going to take it?" Sevor asked.

"No, to high profile and we need to be the exact opposite" Hudson said.

Jason nodded before stepping out into the city and keeping to the shadows. Thenvel followed behind him as they slunk along the wall and towards the edge. Jason stopped and examined the situation, two brutes were standing near the tank and its gun was pointed else where. He could see other brutes walking around an established perimeter; Jason quickly came up with a plan and drew his knife.

"Thenvel take the one on the right, I have the one on the left" Jason said. Thenvel nodded and the two ran foreword silently. Jason grabbed the brute and buried his knifes blade to its hilt in to the base of the creatures skull. He set it down gently so as to not make a sound; the other brutes were not watching their backs figuring that the tank would take care of that so they didn't see the spartan and elite take out their fellow. Jason stepped into the tank and looked up and could see a hatch at one end that he could tell lead the operations section. Jason and Thenvel walked along the troop bay of the tank, they opened the door and stepped inside, the brutes at the controls turned around before the spartan and elite cut them to ribbons.

"Hudson tank is out of commission, recommend we move for the sewer now" Jason said.

"Understood, we are going now" Hudson said. Jason and Thenvel stepped outside, Jason looked around the edge of the tank and could see the brutes still spread out. Hudson ran over to the man hole and lifted it from the road. The others ran over and they all crouched around the entrance. The brutes ran over and started down the ladder into the sewer.

"John the brutes coming down are friendly, hold your fire"

"Understood" John said. The first brute started down and the others weren't far behind.

"Lets go we can't be in the open like this" Jason said. One of the brutes that were around the perimeter that the enemy had set up, he raised his weapon right before yelling out to his comrades.

"Kill them!"

Jason then fired as the brutes opened up. The spartans all opened fire on the ape like aliens.

"Suppressing fire now!" Hudson yelled and the five opened up on the brutes. The brutes on their side or as they had taken to calling themselves, Helghan, joined them in pinning the enemy down. They broke off one by one and jumped down into the sewers; Jason was last in and grabbed the manhole. He jumped into the hole and pulled the manhole cover onto the sewer access ladder and then slid down the ladder. At the bottom the group was getting ready to move.

Above them a Turian dropship landed and a Krogan battle master stepped off.

"They are in the sewers sir" a brute said.

"Then go after them dip shit" the Krogan said.

May 10th 3232, 0103 SMT / Heaven/ Rockven:

The team walked down the sewer tunnel, they kept the kids in the middle so that they would be protected better. Jason and his fire team were in the back of the group. They had ran for the first fifteen minutes of their journey but had stopped once they felt that there was enough distance between them and the brutes, the spartans remained on edge however. The idea of getting ambushed inside the tunnels did not appeal to them since there was a sever lack of cover available to them in the tunnels. They had their flashlights activated so that the kids could see as they walked along.

"Jason, what did Sevor mean when he said we beat the universe?" TJ asked.

"He was talking about Armageddon, Harry Stampers crew that blew up the asteroid that would have smashed the earth apart in 2012" Jason said.

"Oh, yeah I remember that from history class now" TJ said as they walked along. Jason stopped when he heard something from behind them; he turned back and saw some shadows on the wall.

"Lights out now" he whispered and the group killed their lights. The tunnel became dark save for the light that was coming around the corner; a squad of brutes came around the corner. They had their lights out and were busy watching the corridor in front of them; Jason kept his rifle trained on the hostiles with the rest of the squad. The ape like aliens marched on past, the group of humans, Sangheili and Helghan remained as still as possible in the dark to prevent detection. After the brutes marched past Jason relaxed just a bit, the group stood up silently and started to walk as softly as possible down the tunnel away from the brutes.

"John how far are we from the evac point?" Ry asked.

"About three more miles through this tunnel" John said quietly. Hudson held up his hand and the formation stopped. They crouched low to the ground; a whirring sound filled the tunnel. Jason kept his one good eye peeled for any signs of danger, he couldn't see anything and the NV in his HUD was not highlighting anything. The sound was now right above them it seems and Jason looked up to see a small hovering probe. Just then the tunnels were full of the roar of running footsteps as brutes came running for them, the probe obviously had been sent to find them. Jason shoot it before yelling to the rest of the group.

"We are compromised, bolt!"

The group instantly set off at a run down the tunnel, the children were picked up by Julie, Ry and Eva as they ran. They ran as fast as they could, Jason had taken up the rear of the group and glanced back to see the brutes closing in on them. The aliens started to fire with their weapons at the humans, spike rounds flew past them and smashed into the walls around them.

"Corner!' Hudson yelled out and led them around a corner on the right of the tunnel system. The group of thirty or so soldiers of varying races quickly ran for the corner following the spartan. Jason, TJ, Cale and Carrero turned around. They began to fire their weapons to give the others supporting fire as they ran around the corner and to also put fire on the enemy. The fire did the trick and the brutes jumped out of the way. TJ was first around the corner; he was quickly followed by Cale. Carrero and Jason stayed at the edge of the corner as the team tried to open a pressure door at the end of the hall that would lead them into another section of the city. Thankfully it wasn't raining hard so flooding of the tunnels was not an issue since the system was highly efferent. Once the water reached a certain level secondary pipes in the floor would open and the excess water would flow into another back up system. Jason ducked back around the edge as his rifle clicked empty.

"Carrero im going to the other side, the brutes can push up the right side!" Jason yelled to his comrade.

"Go!" Carrero yelled and Jason sprinted across the tunnel. He held the trigger on his weapon so that any brute would jump down or into an outcome. Jason took cover at the tunnels edge on the other side and started to fire on the brutes that were trying to skulk their way along the right side.

"Got it!" Hudson yelled "You two lets go!"

Jason went to step out but a couple brutes grabbed rocket launchers off their backs and fired them down the tunnel. Jason jumped back as the tunnel entrance to the area where the rest of his comrades are exploded. The tunnel seemed to shake as Jason scrambled back behind the cover of the edge of the sewer tunnel. Creaks appeared in the ceiling, John waved at Jason as he yelled at him.

"Get over here now!" John yelled. Jason peaked around but more rockets flew from down the tunnel and hit the ceiling again. Jason couldn't run across the gap as the platoon of brutes started to suppress him, the volume of fire would kill him in seconds despite his shields and armor. Jason aimed his grenade launcher at the ceiling and fired the weapon causing the ceiling to collapse in bring the street above down with it. Jason took off down the tunnels running as fast as he could as areas began to fall in to the tunnel. He jumped into a side tunnel just as the areas behind him finished collapsing. He stood up and looked around, he couldn't see anything or hear anything but then his comms crackled with John's voice.

"Jason!" John yelled.

"Im all right, John" Jason said as he examined his surroundings.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" John yelled at him.

"Those brutes will have to work around to find you guys now, get those kids out of here" Jason said "complete the mission"

"Are you kidding me!" John said "Hudson hold tight so Jason can rendezvous with us"

"John, we can't do that we have to get to the evac point" Hudson said "Jason, contact veronica. She will be able to get you out of here, keep a cool head you will be fine"

"Got it, John if I don't make it" Jason began.

"No, your making it or ill will come find you and beat the shit out of you then drag you back to mom so she can yell at you for giving up" John said "Now get moving, Jason ill see you at base"

"Roger that, Sierra 2 out" Jason said. He switched his comms over to veronicas line and got in contact with the colonel.

"Jason, Hudson filled me in" Veronica began "The area above you is far to hot for and evac, your best bet is to follow the tunnels to a drain that connects to the river system.

"Great, looks like im hoofin it" Jason said looking around but the sound of footsteps drew his attention. He took off running towards the waypoint Veronica set up as fast as he could. From around a bend the Krogan battle master stalked his way around followed by four batarians who were holding on to the leashes holding back the lizard like war dogs known as veryon.

"Let the hounds go, they will find our prey" the Krogan said. The batarians let go and the veryon began to sniff around, then one of them let out a howl and took off the others close behind.

"Well, the hunt is on" the Krogan said and took of following the veryon.

**Please review.**


	18. Back From Hell

**So, this story is now the longest story I have written both in chapters and words. Whoa! I got four reviews last chapter which is ok but I would like to hear some more feedback from people who don't review regularly or have not submitted one. If I only get a few that's ok to I just like writing.**

May 10th 3232, 0115 SMT (1604 Local time)/ Noveria/ Nithlo's ship:

Nithlo walked into the communication room of his personal frigate, the screen flickered to life and Nithlo could see Trevnor in his office looking out the large window into the serpent nebula. The Turian councilor turned his gaze to his communication screen and walked over to speak with the other Turian general. Nithlo stood at attention but Trevnor just waved him off, he was obviously quite aggravated.

"You said that you would handle it, Nithlo" Trevnor said as he narrowed his eyes at the Turian military leader "I don't like failure, he has just given everything to the humans"

"Sir, the men I sent were some of the best I had available" Nithlo said.

"Then why is that traitors basted not dead!" Trevnor said slamming his fist down "this could undo everything!"

"I know" Nithlo said.

"Please tell me that the data was at least recovered" Trevnor said after taking a deep breath.

"No, Trexo is still alive and the team is all dead" Nithlo said.

"So that traitor lives and he some how managed to take out three commandos and a cabal, is that what you are telling me?" Trevnor asked irate again at the news.

"No, Trexo didn't kill them" Nithlo said "But we know what did, I had my men compile as much Intel as we could get on them"

"On what?" Trevnor asked his eyes seemed like daggers stabbing into Nithlo's.

"From what we can tell the human special forces" Nithlo said "Trexo didn't just steal and run, he defecated"

"The asari and cabal members you sent are some of the best soldiers in the galaxy" Trevnor said "and you are telling me that some spartans took them out?"

"No, they humans and Sangheili that took the team out are superior" Nithlo said "They pose a huge threat, not just to our operation since they have all the information they need to take our plans down but I don't think we can protect ourselves from them"

"If I didn't trust your judgment I would call you a coward" Trevnor said "What are we talking about exactly?"

Nithlo sent over the videos that had been recovered from gun and helmet cameras used to monitor missions and combat. Along with the videos came a package of images that the councilor could pull up right away.

"Well?" Trevnor said looking at his terminal on his desk.

"From the videos our analysts have come to a few conclusions, first is that the spartan commandos, as our analysts have dubbed them, are the most lethal combat solider we have ever faced" Nithlo said "these guys make Krogan look like as dangerous as a Elcor, they are the fastest, most agile, and strongest creatures in existence to date"

"To what extent?" Trevnor asked still studying what Nithlo could guess was a picture from one of the cameras.

"The videos revile that they are able to hit speeds upwards of eight miles per hour, and reaction times in the mill-seconds" Nithlo said "Its all in the report, I suggest that we present this to the council, we have made a mistake Trevnor"

"What is that Nithlo?" Trevnor snapped at him, he was angry with everything that was going on.

"We underestimated our enemy" Nithlo said. Trevnor just scoffed and turned the screen off. Nithlo shook his head before walking out of the room.

May 10th 3232, 0128 SMT/ Heaven/ Rockven:

Jason stopped and turned around, he looked back down the sewer tunnel he heard the sound of running feet behind him. The steps sounded to rapid to be any bipedal creature, He activated his cloak and pressed himself in to small out cove in the wall, not a moment to soon as three lizard wolf like creature came around the bend. They stopped and began to sniff around trying to find him. The creature's eyes glowed as they looked around; their nose's working like vacuums. Jason moved slowly and steadily, his hand started down towards the pistol on his leg. His fingers brushed against the grip and he slowly drew it but he stopped when a one of the creatures came close. It sniffed around by his feet, before it could figure out that it had found its quarry Jason sprang to life. He smashed his boot down on the lizards head, the other two quickly looked up but Jason fired the pistol and they dropped dead. Two neat holes in each of their heads, they died before they hit the ground. Jason heard what he could assume were the owners of the lizard beasts come running up to meet with their pets. Jason didn't waste any time and tossed a grenade around the corner. He sprinted off as he tossed the grenade, the explosive bounced around the corner. He heard something yell out and the sound of bodies hitting the ground as the enemy dived for cover. The explosion erupted and the screams of something dying filled the tunnels. Jason ran as fast as he could, he only had a limited window to get to the dropship. He turned around a bend and could see the night sky out of the opening in the tunnel. He took off for it but the sound of something behind him made him look back and he could see a very large, very angry Krogan charging after him. Jason ran for the end of the tunnel. He stopped at the edge, he could see a platform below, and it had a hole for the water to fall out through and was meant for observation. The spartan looked back and could see the Krogan coming at him like a freight train. Jason looked back and saw the platform he went to jump for it but the Krogan had other plans. Jason was yanked back as the Krogan hit him with a biotic pull and the spartan was yanked back into the tunnel. Jason flew through the air and smashed back into the hard ground of the sewer tunnel. He went to stand but the Krogan kicked him in the gut and the spartan fell back down. The large lizard alien began to way lay into the spartan with its leg. Jason could feel the massive impacts break his shields and they were starting to smash his ribs. He quickly flipped over and grabbed the Krogans foot. He dived for the other one and smashed into the Krogans other leg and the beast toppled over. The massive lizard like alien splashed into the water sending spray everywhere. Jason jumped on the beast and started to punch the Krogan's head as hard as he could over and over again. The massive creature cocked a fist back and was enveloped in the purple aura that biotics get before they use their power. The Krogan smashed his fist into Jason's gut sending him up into the air. Jason flew back a few feet and landed hard; his helmet had been knocked off and sent back down the tunnel. He stood up, facing the Krogan. The massive lizard stood up, blood dripped from its nostril and off his lips. The alien spat, and a few teeth fell out. Jason felt blood on his face that came from his mouth; he spat the red liquid out. The Krogan smiled at him before it spoke.

"I haven't had a fight like this in years" the Krogan said "Your good human"

The spartan studied his opponent, the Krogan had greenish skin and the plate on his head was a deep red. The lizard had scaring on the right side of his face and his red eyes were studying Jason. Jason watched as the Krogan grabbed its rifle and held it out; he let it fall to ground. Jason understood what the Krogan was doing; he pulled his sidearm out from its holster. He dropped the magazine and racked the slid back and the round that was in the chamber ejected. The spartan drew his combat knife and flipped it around in his hand so the blade faced down. The Krogan cocked a grin and drew its own knife; Jason took a fighting stance in response.

"This will be fun" the Krogan said before running towards the spartan.

May 10th 3232, 930 SMT/ Citadel:

Trevnor walked up to the podium, he wore the finest suit he owned and he walked in way that made it seem that confidence poured from him. He looked out into the press conference room, he could see the army of reporters and cameras all focused in him. The Turian stopped when he reached the podium. He paused before he began his speech to the people of the council races.

"My friends, we are faced with dark times" Trevnor began "an enemy has began a crusade to destroy us, we were attacked unaware that they even existed. They made no attempts to enter into peaceful negotiations, no offer to talk, and no olive branch of peace. Instead they attacked us, they invaded our homes, killed our families and friends"

Liara flipped through channels on her TV screen, she stopped when she saw the Turian councilor making a speech.

"These Humans and their allies have destroyed our forces, they have seeded the gripping vines of fear in all our hearts but I am here to tell that there is hope" He paused for a second "We have gained an ally, the humans and the Unions oldest enemy have come to our aid"

The people in the room cheered in response as the prophet of truth came on to the stage in his chair.

"Together we shall burn these humans from the galaxy, end their reign of terror and secure the future for our children and their children" Trevnor said "No more will we not be able to stop them, we can fight them now, and we will beat them!"

May 10th 3232, 0134 SMT /Heaven/ Rockven:

Jason readied himself as the Krogan ran at him; a biotic warp attack soared toward the spartan. He ducked under the attack. He quickly dived to the side as the Krogan slashed down with its knife. Jason sent his fist flying for the Krogans face but it was ready. The lizard grabbed Jason's arm. Jason stepped in close to the Krogan and smashed his elbow into its face. The Krogan let go of his arm but brought its knee up into Jason's gut knocking the spartan back a bit. Jason swung his leg into the lizards knee, the Krogan buckled a bit but came right back at Jason with its knife rocketing for his chest. Jason smacked the arm down and to the side but the beast was ready and sent its elbow for Jason's exposed face. Jason ducked under it and slashed at the Krogans gut but it brought its knife up to block. Jason punched the Krogans head plate forcing it back a few feet.

The Krogan punched again but Jason was a step ahead. He quickly under hooked the aliens arm and locked his hands around its head and flipped it over his hip. The Krogan hit the ground hard. Jason went to stomp on the Krogan but the beast caught his foot and sent Jason skyward with a biotic push. Jason hit the ceiling before falling back to the ground. The Krogan and spartan stood up simultaneously, Jason drew another knife and took up his stance again. The biotic attack had cracked some of his ribs but the adrenaline was blocking out the pain. The Krogan scuffed a bit and spun its knife around in its hand.

"If you were a Krogan I would be offering you to join clan Urdnot" the alien said.

"Im taken" Jason said his eyes locked on the Krogan.

"Humph, enough talk"

"Bring it fucker" Jason said and the two ran at each other. Jason swung his knife at the aliens face; the Krogan was ready and blocked the strike. Jason knew the alien would and stabbed the lizard beast in the stomach with the knife in his other hand. It grunted in pain but managed to smash its fist into the spartans gut. Jason didn't waste time recovering and spun around the alien wrenching the knife out as he did. He kicked the alien in its back and the Krogan stumbled foreword a few feet. The Krogan whipped around and sent a biotic attack at the spartan. Jason rolled out of the way and charged at the Krogan. The beast felt its feet leave ground as Jason sent an upper cut into the Krogans jaw. The alien flew in a perfect arch and hit the ground. Jason jumped onto it and started to punch and stab at it. The Krogan blocked what it could but couldn't block one of the knife stabs. The blade stuck into its shoulder but got stuck giving the Krogan a split second. Jason felt the aliens jaw collide with his chin and sent him off. He rolled back as the Krogan went to kick him. Jason stood up and felt a pain in his stomach; he looked down to see the Krogans knife sticking in his stomach. Jason could feel the blood trickle out. The Krogan pulled the blade out and Jason fell to his knees. The Krogan leered at him, its knife in hand.

"Do you surrender human?" the Krogan asked. Jason saw a falcon approaching the tunnels end; he looked up at the alien beast as blood trickled from his mouth.

Jason tightened his grip around the hilt of the knife and took a deep breath. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind and readied himself.

"Never" Jason said and sprang at the Krogan. He stabbed his knife as hard as he could into the Krogans chest. He punched the alien in the gut knocking it back. Jason side kicked the knife forcing it deeper into the Krogans chest. Jason then back kicked the beast knocking it farther back. He followed it up with another side kick that sent the Krogan farther back. The Krogan stood at the edge of the tunnel. Jason then swung his arm in a wild haymaker punch that landed square in the Krogans face as it looked up. The alien went flying off the edge of the sewer and fell towards the river below missing the platform. Jason stumbled around a bit before regaining his balance by putting his hand on the wall. The falcon flew in as close as the rooters would let it, Jason could see John, Carrero, Cale and TJ on board. John waved to Jason, the spartan mustered up what strength he had and jumped for the falcon. He landed his chest hitting the edge but the other spartans quickly grabbed him and pulled him on board. Jason lay on the floor of the troop bay, His stomach wound hurt but the medical systems in the armor had already begun to work and the wound didn't bleed anymore.

"You are going to be all right Jason" John said as he grabbed a first aid kit.

"Yeah, you got this Jason" Carrero said.

"Don't worry so much ya damn spick" Jason said "takes more than a stab wound to kill me"

"Yeah, he's good" Carrero said making the spartans laugh. Jason groaned the laughing made his stomach burn in pain.

"Don't make me laugh" Jason said.

"Sure thing, ETA to base twenty minutes" John said. He punched Jason in the shoulder, making him bark in pain as his gut twanged again.

"Don't ever do that again" John said "I don't want to explain to mom how you died saving my ass, she would kill me"

Jason chuckled for a second before wincing again. The Spartans relaxed as the Falcon soared off into the night towards the sanctuary offered by Camp Kau Shan. Hot food, medical help, and sleep waited for all of them.

Wrex floundered out of the river and onto the bank of the river, He coughed a bit and blood seeped from his wound. It was nothing he couldn't handle, he had survived worst. He looked up as the human aircraft soared away; he smiled knowing that the councils reign on the galaxy could be headed toward its end. He grunted as he gripped the exposed bit of the human's knife and pulled. He roared as the blade slid back out through his body, the serrated side ripping his flesh. When the blade was out he was panting from pain. He grabbed the one in his shoulder and wrenched it free; he examined the blades of the knives. One had the human script engraved into the blade; Wrex used his Omni-tool to translate it using the programs the Turians had made.

"Major Jason Wells" Wrex said "ill remember that"

May 10th 3232, 2245 SMT/ Pavilion/ Turian Training camp:

Garrus stood at the head of the companies' squad bay; he had been training these Turians for the past few days as hard as he could. He made sure that they were going to be ready, that they could be able to make it home. They had become his responsibility, his children almost. He may have only been two years older at seventeen but he felt ages older then these kids. They had no idea what they were going to be facing when they had to go against the Humans or the species of the Union. Garrus had taken it upon himself to make sure that they were the best they could be. The young Turians slept soundly in their racks, Garrus sighed. They looked to be at peace when they slept, Garrus had not had a sound night of sleep in nearly three weeks. _All right enough mussing_ he thought to himself and flipped the lights on.

"Every solider out of those racks and on my deck now!" Garrus yelled. The barracks became a flurry of motion as the Turians sprang from their beds.

"Five Seconds, you got fucking seconds!" Garrus said. He kicked the bed of a Turian who was taking to long to get out of his rack "Move it!"

Two Turians in the middle of the barracks were talking.

"Man, why does he have us running like this?" one said.

"To make us the best"

"Yeah, im sick of this shit" The first said "I just want to get out there and kick a Sap"

Garrus stopped in the middle of the row of beds and walked over to the Turian recruit.

"What did you say?" Garrus asked.

"I said I want to kick a Sap Sargent" the Turian said. The Turians in the barracks chuckled at the comment from their fellow.

"Kick a Sap" Garrus said walking away from the Turian "So how about it boys? I bet you all want to do more than kick a sap"

"Yes Sargent" the Turians all responded. Garrus stopped and looked around at the recruits.

"Kick a Sap" Garrus began "That's what the enemy is to you huh? A fucking funny looking lanky cartoon dreamed up by some asshole on the citadel to sell soap!"

Garrus walked down the barracks again looking at the recruits as he went.

"Let me tell you something, the Sap I know" Garrus said "The Homeo Saipan Solider. He has been at war since you were in your fucking diapers!" He said yelling into one of the recruits face "He is a combat veteran, an expert with his weapon" he said as he walked back down the rows of wide eyed recruits "He can live off of rations and muddy water for weeks and endure misery you couldn't dream of in your worst nightmare!" Garrus yelled at another recruit.

"A human solider has absolutely no mercy or compassion for you and will do everything in his power to kill you" Garrus said as he got up right into the recruit who spoke ups face "Now you can call them whatever you want, but never fail to respect their desire to put you and your buddies into a very early grave, is that clear!"

"Yes sergeant!" the recruits responded.

"Why aren't you in your combat gear, ten mile run in formation in two minutes?" Garrus yelled at the recruits.

May 11th 3232, 0934 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason sat down at the chow table wincing a bit as he did when his ribs throbbed in pain. The other members of the squad joined him with trays of food. Jason looked at his breakfast, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy. The food was hot and fresh, he took a deep whiff of the food letting the scent of warm food comfort him. He picked up the small package that had his utensils in it and opened it up. He picked up his fork and took half of one of the biscuits and stuffed it into his mouth. The sound of more treys being sat down around him made him look up from his breakfast as the other nine spartans from sierra squad sat down.

"Well, they let you out of the hospital" Carrero said as he sat down next to Jason. The Hispanic put his arm around the wounded man.

"We thought you weren't going to make it Jason" Carrero said.

"Well, you should know better than to write me off" Jason said smiling at his friend.

"Yeah, and you kicked the shit out of that Krogan" TJ said "They should give you a medal"

"Made sure we got out that was for sure" Cale said "You blocked that off and we didn't have any more contacts with the enemy"

"Yeah, Jason here did all the work after that" Carrero said making the spartans chuckle.

"Next time we are on leave, ill buy you a drink" Angelica said. Jason smiled as he looked around the table. John smiled back, Darrel stuffed his face and gave Jason a thumbs up, Cale nodded, Yazid raised his fork a bit before putting some eggs in his mouth. Angelica placed a hand on his giving him a warm smile, Julie and Maria smiled back. TJ slid Jason his gravy and biscuits over to the spartan. Carrero took his arm off of Jason's shoulder and set about eating his breakfast. The sound of running feet drew Jason's attention and he glanced over to see Tommy come over. The small black skinned boy gave the wounded spartan a hug. Jason grunted in pain as the boy squeezed the spartan.

"Tommy!" Jason yelped "Ribs!"

The boy let go, he smiled at the spartan. Jason looked the boy over with his good eye, the boy seemed happy. Tommy wore some clothes that the people on base had found, except that his jacket was an extra NWU jacket but it was too big for him.

"Thank you Jason" Tommy said. Jason scouted over making space between him and Carrero so that the young boy could join them at the table.

"Get up here trooper" Jason said and Tommy took a seat at the table.

"So, Tommy where is Sarah and Katie?" Julie asked the boy.

"They are in line for food, I wasn't hungry" Tommy said.

"You should eat up Tommy, you are looking a little thin" Cale said.

"Im not hungry" Tommy said flatly.

"So, Tommy did you find out anything about any of your family?" TJ asked.

"What family? Im an orphan" Tommy said.

"Oh, im sorry" TJ said.

"Its k" Tommy said. He looked over at the line and saw Sarah and Katie getting food on their trays.

"You guys have been through a lot" Julie said.

"Yeah, how long were you guys on your own?" Carrero asked.

"Like, since the city was attacked" Tommy said "we had to be quiet the whole time and gather what we could"

May 11th 3232, 1234 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Hudson walked into the command tent towards the back where the secure briefing room was. The spartan wore the regular NWUs and his signature sunglasses. The marine guards at the door to the room opened the doors up and Hudson stepped inside, Veronica and the rest of the task force from the _Mason_ had been seated in the room. Trexo was at the front, he still had the same downcast look on his face as when they had left for the operation. Hudson could understand, defecting was not an easy choice and finding out that your men died for nothing is not a great revelation either. Hudson took a seat next to Arianna, the female spartan nodded to the teams leader.

"Well, now that we are all here we can begin" Veronica said and the lights shut down. She turned the screen on and a dossier of a Turian general appeared on the screen. Hudson studied the screen, the general's name was Nithlo Vervokran and he apparently held an extremely high rank in the Turian military.

"Thanks to the Intel Trexo has provided, we have been able to ascertain a lot of information about our enemy" Veronica said "We know that they are allied with the covenant, but we found that out a few days ago"

"What sort of Intel did we get?" Ry asked. Hudson looked over and saw the massive red eyed elite leaning on the table studying the screen intently. Eva sat next to him; the two had grown close and were often not separated unless they had to be.

"Names mostly, Nithlo was smart enough to keep any key locations off his main system" Trexo said.

"We know that we need more intelligence on locations, we can not just go on a man hunt" Veronica said "We need to take out any thing related to the biological weapon they have been creating to use as an end game against us, once we complied the intelligence Trexo gave us with what we gained" Veronica began "We have been able to work out what our next move should be, we are going to have to the location of the main lab facility and if possible take Nithlo out"

"I would agree, that basted needs to pay for what he is doing" Trexo said "and if we can get Trevnor that would take the head of the kriffviper"

"I don't know what a kriffviper is, but I would agree that he needs to die but high command doesn't want us to kill him" Veronica said "We kill a councilor and this wars end goes from soon to many years from now"

"So, how we going to stop this?" Arianna said "If we can't touch him due to the war escalating even more, we need a way to take him out"

"That is why we are going after the labs and as much incriminating evidence as we can" Veronica said "We send that to the council and they will handle the Trevnor problem and this war comes to a cease fire"

"What happens if the entire council is in on this?" Ry asked.

"Then we take them out" Veronica said smashing her fist on the table "Now, we need to move fast and we need to move now. The more time we spend doing nothing, the more time they have to prefect their virus"

"Agreed, what is our next op?" Hudson asked the colonel.

"One of the locations we found out about is a research colony on Aegis seven, Jam communications then smash and grab" Veronica said "dismissed, see you topside"

May 11th 3232, 1320 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason lay on a couch that he and some of the others from the squad had dragged up to the roof of the bombed out office building that had quickly become HQ. The area had quickly become the unofficial hangout for most of the people on base. Couches lay around the area rain wasn't an issue to the troops as they had but up pavilion roofs over the area and managed to stick nine together to make a shanty. The walls were tarps that could be rolled down on rainy days and up when it was nice out. Jason had drug a couch out into the sun and had a glass of the scavenged liquor next to him. A cigar stuck out from between his finger as the spartan relaxed in the sun, his NWU eight point cover rested over his face as Jason relaxed from the days past events. His ribs had stopped hurting every time he moved and the meda-gel had closed the wound on his stomach up and now only his ribs prevented him from having a clean bill of health. The medical community had developed powerful medical equipment, medicines and supplies that let injuries be recovered from in a few days or maybe two weeks rather than a few weeks or months. Jason thought about the area that the troops had thrown together in the matter of the two weeks they had been there. Pools tables were set up under the tents, they had complete sets of sticks in racks, triangles for every table and full sets of the billiard balls for the table. They had found those in a tavern that had some how escaped the Turians destruction. They had used bookshelves from the office building and crates as a bar, they were not supposed to drink and the officers were supposed to stop it. The officers, like everyone else at the camp didn't give a shit. _Wow, it's amazing what people can do when they are bored_ Jason thought to himself as he mused about what was becoming known as "The Kau Shan MWR". Jason heard footsteps but didn't look up to see who it was that was coming over to him.

"How did I know I could find you up here?" Angel said. Jason took a draw on his cigar and slowly let the smoke out.

"I don't know" Jason said from under his cover "come to check on me doc?"

"Yeah something like that" Angel said and sit down on the edge of the couch. Jason held his hand up and offered the cigar to his fellow spartan. She took the burning, rolled tobacco to her lips and took a deep draw on it then let the smoke out.

"Not bad, what is it?" Angel asked. Jason looked up at her from under his covers brim. Her blue eyes gazed out across the destroyed landscape of the city, her tanned skin reflected the sun light and her black hair blew in the wind. Her hair was cut in the standard military style; she closed her eyes as the wind blew.

"It's a rocky Patel edge" Jason said before he took another drink from his glass. The female spartan handed the cigar back to Jason who took it from her and took another long draw on it.

"So, what brings you here?" Jason asked Angel.

"Oh, not much thought about relaxing some" Angel said. Jason sat up and looked at the female spartan, their eyes looked together.

"I think this is a pull out couch" Jason said. The two stood up and Jason quickly pulled the cushions off. Angel grabbed the bed and pulled it out from inside the couch, the mattress was bear but it didn't matter to Jason. The spartan lay back down and Angel lay down next tom him. Jason took another draw on his cigar, he looked up at the sky and he could see some of the frigates that had come down from space holding position overhead.

Jason felt Angel's gaze on his face and he looked over at her, she smiled at him from next to him. Jason didn't stop her as she closed her eyes and leaned closer to him. Jason felt their lips touch and closed his eyes. They broke apart a few seconds later, Angel smiled at Jason.

"Well, I think that is the best pain killer I have had yet" Jason said causing Angel to laugh.

May 12th 3232, 1345 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason stood at the edge of the landing platform, a pelican sat on the platform. The dropships engines roared as the dropship readied for takeoff. Tommy, Sarah and Katie all stood in front of the spartans. Jason crouched down so he was on their level; Tommy looked him in the eye.

"You are all spartans in my book kids" Jason said. They nodded as Jason talked to them.

"Tommy I want you to have something" Jason said and reached into his pocket. He pulled a combat knife from his pocket and held it out to Tommy. The young boy took the weapon with wide eyes. He pulled the blade out of its sheath and saw Jason's name inscribed on the blade.

"I have a few of these and they saved my life numerous times" Jason said "Keep it close Tommy"

"Yes sir" Tommy said and gave Jason a salute. Jason turned to Sarah; the young red haired girl stood looking at the spartan squad that had come to see the squad off. Katie stood next to her and the three young kids all seemed sad that they had to leave. In the two days that they had been safe they had spent time with the squad and grown close to them.

"I see great things in your threes futures" John said "Take care kids, now you got a plane to catch"

Tommy nodded and started to walk towards the pelican but he turned back as Sarah hugged Julie. The young girl ran over to Tommy and Katie and the three walked on to the pelicans.

"They'll be fine" Carrero said. The squad watched as the pelican took off; little did they know what those kids were destined for.

**Please review.**


	19. Calm Before the Storm

**Well, sorry for the wait. I got five reviews for the last chapter which is nice, I would appreciate a few more but I will take what I get. I have not got any reviews from people that reviewed in the beginning; I would like to hear from you again. The story is also up to fifty one alerts and forty eight favorites which is just plan awesome. The poll is still open so please vote, and as always please leave a review any feedback is good feedback. Enough talking you guys want to read the chapter**

May 13th 3232, 2002 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason and a few of the other spartans from the squad sat at one of the tables that were set up in the makeshift bar on top of the HQ. They were not sitting at anything high class, just a simple kitchen table that they had dug out from inside an apartment and they had set it near the bar on the west side of the makeshift hangout. They were one table away from the bar that was made out of empty shipping crates. A stage made of what ever scrap they could scrape together from the warzone that surrounded the soldier's oasis. The stage was made mostly of wood and table tops, on the stage was a few marines who could play instruments and had decided to strike a band up. The marines had found a music shop near a downed pelican. They brought back everything they needed; they ran the amplifiers and speakers from the HQ's power supply. The Camp's commanding officer was Ack-Ack and he actually suggested that they start the band. They were currently playing music from an old age band named Sublime. _It is quite funny really that after a thousand years our taste in music has not changed much _Jason thought. There were songs from over a thousand years ago that were still popular today. The band had called them selves the "Ragged Marines" and the name fit. Their instruments currently were sounding out one of Sublime's classic songs "What I Got". The band didn't have a singer so it was only instrumental now.

Jason glanced up from the cigar in his hand as he let out a stream of smoke he could see Cale across from him. The black haired spartan checked his cards before tossing in a blue chip, Jason watched him. Jason glanced to his right, TJ was studying Carrero who was sitting on the other side of the table and looked like he couldn't be more relaxed with a cigar stuck out from his lips and his hand waved back and forth to the sound of the music. His hand waved over the deck of cards since it was the Hispanic spartans turn to deal out the cards. Carrero was leaning back in his chair; he pulled the cigar from his lips and blew the smoke out. Next to Carrero was Yazid, the Muslim spartan had been bleeding chips but he wasn't thinking straight due to the five shots he had taken before joining in. Jason glanced over Cale again, _damn that boy has the best poker face I have seen _Jason thought to himself shaking his head he watched Cale crack the smallest of smiles _shit now he knows im bluffing_. Jason checked his two cards; he had an ace and a Jack though they differed in their suite. _Shit, I needed better cards_ he thought as he looked up again trying to remain as stoic as possible. Jason picked his cigar up from the ashtray and took a draw on it. He let the smoke out as Sledge tossed in a bet of one white chip that was worth five cents. Jason matched the beat he smiled as he tasted the flavors from the cigar, an Ashton aged maduro.

"Well, how did I know I would find you up here Jason?" A voice said behind in a matter of fact sort of tone. Jason could tell who it was right away.

"I don't know John, you tell me" Jason said with a small smile breaking his stoic demeanor.

"Maybe it is something to do with twins" Carrero said shrugging as he studied his cigar, his gaze wide and his mouth open a bit. Jason could tell that Carrero was going down what the UNSC officially called "Battle stress disorder" everyone else called it "the crazy train".

"Wait you two are twins?" TJ asked surprised.

"Yeah, how did you not figure that one out smart stuff, you a little FUBAR in the head?" Carrero asked.

"They just don't look the same" TJ said "And after watching you carve up corpse's for platinum teeth I maybe going a little crazy"

Carrero cracked his signature crazy cock-eyed grin and pulled out his dog tags, Jason saw the teeth glint as they hung from the chain. Jason only glanced though, it didn't bug him but he wouldn't ever do it. He could care less, he hated the Turians with a passion and wasn't afraid to show it he just knew where to draw a line. Jason took his cigar again and enjoyed another draw on it as Carrero held the teeth up to the light.

"I think I got myself near at least two hundred in platinum right here" Carrero said smiling "Wonder why they use it for teeth?"

"Want to get in this game after this round boss man?" Yazid asked looking up from his cards, his near drunk status evident in his eyes. John glanced over the spartan; Yazid wore that wide, drunken-happy sort of smile on his face.

"Sure, ill join in" John said shrugging a bit "Just got of the phone system with Kat so I got nothing better to do"

"Ok, can we finish up now and get the flop out now?" Sledge said indignantly "I would like to finish this game before we have to go get shot at again"

"Calm down Sledge" Carrero said as he let the chairs front legs make contact with the ground and he leaned over the table "just because you are dead money don't mean you need to get bent all out shape"

Carrero remained over the table and stared at Sledge with his usual crazy, blank look on his face as he did. Carrero set the cards down in what Jason would swear is a record time. The Spartan studied the three new cards with his one good eye, an eight, queen, and a king. _Good so far_ Jason though trying not to let his happiness show. Jason leaned back and in his seat taking a draw on the Ashton cigar as he did.

"Fuck it" TJ said and tossed his cards in "I fold"

Carrero took his cards up and put them on top of the burn pile, he gestured for Jason to start the bet since he was next left from the dealer. Jason grabbed another white chip and tossed it into the pot, Cale matched it his poker face never breaking. Yazid burped before tossing his cards in and standing up.

"Im done, im going to catch some Zs" Yazid said standing up from the table a little bit wobbly "im cashing it in"

"Alright, night Yazid. Im thinking about calling it quits to" Sledge said as he yawned.

"Some ones tired" Angel said as she walked up. She smiled and grabbed a chair before sitting down next to the Jason. She smiled as she rested her head on her hand with her elbow on the table.

"Yeah" Sledge said rolling his eyes. Cale tossed in a white chip to match Jason but raised him two red chips. Jason studied Cale and saw his left eyebrow twitch a few time, _he is bluffing_ Jason thought. John watched the game from his seat near TJ with mild interest as he waited for the round to end. The beat went over to Sledge who checked his cards; the look on his face told Jason everything he needed to know. Sledge looked downcast for a second before his poker face returned and he glanced up tapping the table as he did signaling that he was checking.

"Lets see the next card then" John said. Angel leaned up against Jason's arm, her soft brown hair tickling Jason's arm. The one-eyed spartan glanced at the warrior women that had leaned her head against his arm.

"Hey Jason" Carrero said flatly drawing Jason's attention back to the game. Jason checked the card that had just been placed down, _a ten _Jason thought trying to prevent a sort of reaction from coming on to his face _perfect_. Jason looked over his stack of chips, white, red, blue and the highest ranked chip the green. He grabbed two of the green ones and tossed them in haphazardly. Angel pulled the cigar out from in between his fingers and took a draw on it. She closed her eyes as she let the smoke out, a smile graced her lips as she did.

"Wow, doc never thought you would smoke" TJ said. Jason glanced at him and saw the young spartan leaning back in his chair, staring up at the tents roof. Jason reached out his foot and tapped the bottom of one of the legs. TJ's eyes shot open as he lost balance and started to flail his arms.

"Whoa!" TJ yelled as he went crashing to earth. The spartans around the table laughed at him as He placed a hand on the table and pulled himself back up over the edge. He resembled a mountain climber that was on the very last push to crest a ridge. TJ's cover was askew on his head and he was breathing hard.

"Fuck you" TJ said pointing his finger at Jason accusingly. The table burst into more laugh as the newest member of the team grabbed his chair and sat back down. Jason chuckled as the comedic moment slipped away and they returned to their game. Cale matched Jason's beat, as did Sledge and Carrero.

"You know what that band needs, a singer" John interjected breaking the silence at the table "Did you sing in high school Angel?"

"Oh, no" Angel said leaning back waving her hands "Don't even think about it"

"Come on, what is the worst that could happen?" John asked her.

"Were in a war zone, we could get snipes, have a bomb land on us" Carrero began but Cale cut him of.

"Dude, we don't need any of your fucking comments Snafu" Cale said aggressively.

"Im only saying, tell you what Angel" Carrero said grabbing the five dollar bills from his pocket "You go sing and ill give you five"

TJ reached into his pockets and pulled out some money and threw it on to the five dollar bill that Carrero had sat down in front of her. She looked at him indignantly but then whipped her head as Sledge dropped another five to the pot. John slapped down a more bills as he gave the squad's medic a daring grin. _What the heck_ Jason thought and pulled out some bills from his chest pocket of his NWUs and tossed them into the pot.

"I hate all of you" Angel said. The medic picked up the money and counted it before shoving it in her pocket and sighing.

"Fine, but if they don't know the song I want to sing then I keep the money" Angel said glaring at them.

"Fine, what song are you going to sing for us?" Carrero asked.

"I have one in mind" She said before walking over the stage. Jason watched her as she went, _Damn man _he thought as he watched her hips swing from side to side _wow, im falling for the medic_.

"Alright boys last card" Cale said prompting Carrero to lay the river out. The Hispanic spartan tossed one card to the burn table and then flipped the last card over, an ace. Jason studied the cards, the eight, ten, and the seven that had just been laid down were of the same suite. Jason checked his beat, _no need to let them on to anything_ he thought. Sledge checked and it went all the way around to Carrero who pulled his cigar from his lips and letting the smoke out.

"Showem" He said. Jason laid his cards out, and smiled leaning back in his chair. Sledge banged his head on the table; he only had a three of a kind. Cale's face never changed as he set his cards down but Jason's did.

"Son of a bitch" Jason said as he saw Cale's cards.

"Flush" Cale said. Carrero looked over his cards and set them down as well his mind else where as he gazed off into space.

"Well, Cale wins this hand" Carrero said in his slow speech. Jason shook his head and looked up at the stage as the last song the band was playing stopped. Angel stepped up and took one of the microphones but the marine on the guitar spoke first.

"Well you bunch of hard core killers, seems we found some one willing to try out singin for ya tonight" the marine said his Hispanic accent sprinkled on the words "Clap it up for Master Sargent Angelica Reyna"

The collection of fifty or so assorted troopers clapped causing the generally hardened solider to blush a little.

"She has an old, old song picked out from way back in the day" the marine said "thankfully we like the classics"

The music started out slow and deep, Angel seemed to sway a bit as the began the first line of the song.

"Play the guitar, play it again my Johnny" Angel began as she started to sing. The song went one remaining deep and some what saddening. The medic closed her eyes as she sung into the microphone, Jason watched her intently. Her voice flowed into his ears and despite the sad sound of the song Jason found himself relaxing to sound of her voice as she sung. It seemed that the atmosphere in the bar had shifted; Jason took a puff on his cigar letting the smoke just drift free as he opened his mouth. _Wow, she has a beautiful voice_ Jason thought as he closed his eyes savoring the flavors of both the music and the cigars smoke. He looked up as the last note of the song faded from the air and Angel opened her eyes slowly. She glanced around at the marines, spartans and other members of the assorted bunch of war fighters. They began to applaud her and she smiled bashfully before stepping down. She walked back over to the table and sat down in her chair trying not to look at the people around her as she did.

"Damn" was all that Carrero could manage to saying causing the table to laugh again?

May 14th 3232, 1306 SMT/ Zove station/ Military district:

A man walked down the hallway of the ONI office building inside the massive, city size space station that orbited around the gas giant, Alaska. He walked with confidence down the hallway; his strides were as long as his short stature would let him. Next to him walked two men wearing black suits and carrying SMG's. The man they were escorting however didn't wear a suit but rather a tuxedo. His hair wasn't a straight edge, short military style hair cut but dreadlocks fell of the back of his head and bounced on his back as he walked. His dark skin stood out against the white cloth of his tuxedo and his rough beard gave his face character. The three men stopped outside a door that was guarded by two spartans in solid black armor with shotguns in their hands.

"Mr. President" one said as the three men approached. The two spartans snapped to attention.

"Please, at ease gentlemen" the man in the white tuxedo said, despite his high rank on society he made sure to treat everyone with respect and politeness "and Mr. Hudson is fine"

"Yes sir" one of the spartans said "They are all ready here and were a waiting your arrival"

"Thank you" Mr. Hudson said nodding and grabbed one of the handles and pulling the door open. He gesture for the two men to step inside first, the secret service agents nodded and stepped inside. Omar Hudson fallowed his guards inside and stepped into the room. Omar looked around the room and saw a collection of Sangheili and spartans standing in the room. They wore a new armor system that resembled muscle structure of the two species. An older looking woman in a set of NWUs walked over and held out her hand to Omar.

"Mr. President, Colonel Veronica Watts"

"Nice to meet you Colonel Watts" Omar said taking her hand and shaking it in the traditional human greeting. Omar Hudson was not a regular president; he wore tuxedos over suits, treated his guards to dinner and had never met a person he couldn't be friends with. He was the leader of the UEG, the united earth government.

"So, lets get started" Omar said sitting down rubbing his hands together portraying his interest in the matters at hand. The others in the room all sat down at the table and Victoria stood at the head of the table. She hit a switch so the projection system turned on with a hum from over the oval, mahogany table that was in the center of the room. _Well, this is quite a nice briefing room_ Omar thought as he looked around at the red carpet lined walls, and the plants that sat in the corners _it disguises its true purpose well_.

"Mr. President, what we are about to tell you is a very serious threat to humanity" Veronica began. Her face was stern as she spoke. Omar could pick up the concern of a battlefield commander in her voice as she spoke, his smile dropped as he realized that this was going to be a very serious meeting.

"Two months ago we raided a Turian research station hoping to gain intelligence but we found something more" Veronica said and pulled a picture up from Eva's helmet camera, the necromorph was evident in his picture.

"My lord, what is that?" Omar asked shocked as he leaned foreword in his seat. The creature he saw in the picture resembled a Turian but only superficial in manner. Its arms were bent in a grotesque manner and its chest cavity had been opened to make way for two small arms to protrude from the creatures gut. It couldn't use the other hands as they had been made into blades of sorts, Omar could see the sicking abominations internal organ and bill was spewing out. _My word that is the most disgusting thing I have ever scene_ Omar thought as he tried to hold down his latest meal.

"This is a the result of a bio-weapon that the Turians are engineering to use as an endgame" Veronica said "We have the names of those involved and from the defector we have gained even more intelligence on the situation"

"What is your plan to deal with this?" Omar asked the colonel keeping his voice calm.

"We know that this goes all the way up to the council its self. We are going to use this intelligence to tear the operation down and when we have enough evidence we are going to call for a cease fire and present it so we can end the war and make sure that the threat from the virus is neutralized"

"What if the whole council is part of this, conspiracy?" Omar asked Veronica. The colonel sighed as she prepared to tell the president the contingency plan, one she knew he would not like.

"When we have the meeting we will have snipers on the area, if they all are on the band wagon then we take them out" Veronica said.

"You plan to kill them if they are at a meeting of peace" Omar said outraged "We can not do that, it is wrong and immoral"

"Mr. President you are being to idealistic you need to be flexible with this and realize the threat" one of the spartans said.

"I may be an idealist but I will not be swayed to break my morals and do what is wrong just because it is the safest route. Now, develop another plan" Omar said sternly.

"Yes sir" the spartan said.

"We are doing everything we can to handle this threat, after this meeting we are departing for another operation, I wont reveal any details" Veronica said as she leaned up against the table "but the real reason we are here is that we got a cry for help"

"From whom did we get this call from?" Omar asked curiously.

"The brutes, there is a sect of rebels that wont to over through the government and create a free nation, their leader has asked to meet you" Veronica said crossing her arms "I don't trust it but if its true we will eliminate the covenant and be one more step towards making peace"

"I don't trust the situation but I will meet with him none the less" Omar said as he leaned back in his chair "we can not deny those trapped in injustice help to become free"

"Now, we need to discuss the details of these two issues" Veronica said and pulled up more intelligence and started her briefing of the situation as it stood.

May 13th 3232, 1403 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

Jason walked down the street; his digital blue pattern trousers had dirt on them from helping a bunch of marines dig a bookshelf out for the bar. Carrero walked next to him, the teeth on his dog tag chain clanked against his tags as he walked along next to the major. TJ walked along on Jason's right since Carrero was on Jason's left. TJ had his NWU top thrown over one shoulder and his cover was stuffed in a pocket. Jason only had on his trousers and boots, the day was warm at eighty five degrees and the troops were doing anything to remain as cool as possible. Carrero wore no shirt as well but had his blouse on with the front open and a blue bandana around his head; TJ and Jason were both starting to look more like the Hispanic spartan in skin tone due to the amount of sun they were getting.

"Damn, all that for a fuckin bookshelf" Carrero said as they walked down the road passing by marines and other troops. Jason glanced at him with his one good eye and shrugged as he pulled a cigar case from his pocket. He pulled the top off the three finger case, and grabbed one of the tobacco sticks with his teeth and pulled it free. He offered the case to Carrero who accepted it and pulled the cigar free, Jason offered it to TJ.

"I have never had one before" TJ said as he looked at Jason questioningly.

"Well, no time like the present" Jason said pulling his unlit cigar from his teeth and holding it with his free hand "Besides it's not like the didn't find the cure for cancer, and all the other shit that come with the habit"

"Yeah, now you can drink your self through four livers and smoke out six lungs and your spartan medical pension will pay for all that" Carrero said pulling out a lighter and started to puff on the cigar causing it to light. TJ shrugged and went to take the cigar with his hand but Jason shook his head making the young spartan stop raising his eyebrow at him.

"Take the case" Jason said in a coercing manner. TJ took the case then pulled the cigar from the case with his teeth, Jason gave him a smile.

"There ya go TeeJee" Carrero said as he let smoke flow out his mouth.

"TeeJee huh?" TJ asked the Hispanic spartan pulling the unlit cigar from his mouth. Jason stopped and hopped up on a puma assault vehicle that had been wrecked during the fighting days ago.

"Yeah, sounds better than TJ or toe-jam" Carrero said with his crazy stare on his face as he leaned up against the hover jeep.

"I like it" TJ said smiling "beats the old nickname by far"

Jason nodded his agreement as he pulled a lighter from his pocket; it was silver and had the spartan E company mascot on it. A wolf with its front left paw resting on a pile of skulls and a snarl on its face. Jason flipped the top open and lit his cigar, he let the smoke out in a stream he flipped the lighter closed with a flick of his wrist.

"TeeJee, catch" Jason said tossing the lighter to the spartan "remember don't in hale the smoke"

"Alright, here goes nothing" TJ said as he held the cigar in his mouth and flicked the lighter on. He pulled air through it and the stick lit up, TJ closed his eyes and then let the smoke out with a cough. He held the lighter up to Jason but the spartan major just waved him off.

"Keep it I got plenty" Jason said as he leaned up against what remained of the windshield of the puma jeep. TJ stopped coughing and took another draw doing his best to not inhale. He let the smoke out smiling as he did, the cigar tasted good _like chocolate_ he thought to himself.

"Thanks Jason" TJ said as he pulled a pair of silver rimmed, avatar style glasses from a pocket and placing them on his face and leaning against the puma next to Carrero who raised an eyebrow at him as TJ stuck his cigar in his mouth and stuffed a hand in his pocket.

"Well some ones a bad ass mother fucker now huh" Carrero said as he gazed into space letting the smoke in his mouth just drift out as he spoke. Jason raised his one remaining eyebrow and shrugged _I would say so the kid beat a brutes skull in with his helmet_ Jason thought to himself in his mind.

"Yeah, I guess so" Jason said leaning back and looking up in the sky, a smile on his face as he relaxed _relaxing in a warzone, they said that would get us all killed_ he said causing him to chuckle a bit.

"I would say so, he did beat that ape to death his helmet" Carrero said. The three sat around in silence, smoking on their cigars. Marines, ODST, and rangers walked about or were sitting down doing the same thing as the three spartans. A few of the other men and women read books, a group had gathered around a TV set up in the back of a transport truck. Jason looked around to see Ack-Ack walking over to the group of spartans. Jason went to stand up but the Colonel just held up his hand telling Jason to stop.

"Boys, what's going on?" Ack-Ack asked in a tone that conveyed he cared and wasn't just going around checking on the men "TJ, nice glasses"

"Thank you sir" TJ said smiling and taking another draw on his cigar.

"You smoke, since when?" Ack-Ack asked the spartan with a very questioning nature to his tone.

"Five minutes ago sir" TJ said happily "and I must say that I am enjoying it"

"Well, good for you" Ack-Ack said "Would you mind if an old timer joined you fellas?"

"Not at all sir" Jason said hopping down from the assault vehicle, his boots thudded as he landed in the hard ground. _Well, smoking cigars with the co didn't see that coming_ Jason thought. Ack-Ack gave a quick smile and pulled a cigar from his chest pocket and a cutter.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Carrero asked the colonel staring at a bird as it flew over head.

"Sure, shoot" Ack-Ack said apathetically as he sliced the head of the cigar.

"What's going on with the jungle, we anit found the Turks base" Carrero said numbly "Why not just blast the area to the ground?"

"Well, I told command to napalm the entire thing but since when do they care what we grunts think?" Ack-Ack said cynically as he toasted the cigars head with his lighter.

"Damn straight" Jason said as he agreed with the colonel spiting on the ground.

"Yeah, well we just sent out more patrols to find the damn thing" Ack-Ack said "Actually Jackson's squad just left"

The old war fighter took a draw on his cigar.

"What happens when we find the base?" TJ said asked curiously.

"Simple we kill them all and let whatever gods they pray to sort them out" Ack-Ack said "head over to the range at 1500, we got some new gun and I want everyone trained on it starting with the spartans. I already told the rest of your squad"

"Aye sir" Jason said with respect in his tone. The four watched as a pelican dropship flew overhead and start to descend. _Nice, supply drop _Jason thought _No more god damn MREs for lunch and breakfast_.

"Sweet, fresh food" TJ said as the aircraft set down on one of the landing pads that had been set up on the roof of a nearby building.

"Well, I got to go check on that" Ack-Ack said as he started to walk away "Remember, 1500 at the range"

"Yes sir" the three spartan said in unison.

May 13th 3232, 1408 SMT/ UNSC Mason:

Ry sat in the mess hall of the UNSC Mason, the state of the art stealth ship that had become his home _and it is the most boring place to live_ Ry thought as he read through a book. The ship had departed from Zove station not to long ago and they were headed for the planet Aegis seven. Ry sighed as his mind drifted to the long journey ahead of the team. The sound of the door hissing open drew his attention and the red-eyed Sangheili shifted his gaze to see who had just walked in but a pair of arms around his neck and the tickle of hair on his scales told him who it was.

"Hello Eva" Ry said in an almost loving manor as the spartan kissed him on the neck. She sighed and leaned against him, her sigh was one of contentment not distress.

"Her sit down" Ry said pulling a chair out but what the spartan did next surprised him, she sat on his lap. Ry's eyes shot open but he relaxed a bit as she leaned into him. Ry put his arms around her holding her close to his chest.

"Ry" Eva said softly "Make us whole"

"What?" Ry asked surprised.

"Make us whole!" Eva said her voice shifting from its usual soft tone to some thing that Ry would swear could scare a demon. Ry threw her as she seemed to change from the lovely blonde spartan into a dead looking, demonic form of herself. Ry fell out of his chair as she kicked him. He started to crawl backwards as she changed into the image of one of his dead comrades, the flood tentacles poking out from the Sangheili's chest.

"What's the matter Ry?" the horrific from asked him the lopsided he of the Sangheili focused on him as it spoke "Can not handle seeing what happened!"

"Leave me alone!" Ry yelled. The back of the room seemed to pulsating red, orange and black and more figure of dead elites stepped out.

"Why Ry, why couldn't you save me?" the dead form of the youngest member of his dead squad asked him sadly.

"I tried! Leave me alone!" Ry said but the first flood Sangheili shifted back to the necromorph Eva. The creature grabbed him by the throat and hosted him into the air, Ry's hands shot up to his neck. The horror smashed him into the wall. Ry's eyes were wide as he stared into the murderous eyes of the thing that had him pinned against the wall.

"That kind of guilt makes you want to just kill your self huh?" it said "make it whole, everyone from that day dead!"

"No!" Ry yelled. He snapped up and looked around the room from the chair he was sitting in. Everything was normal, no undead monsters that Ry could see and no flashing lights. He breathed a sight of relief and felt a touch on his arm causing him to jump away from the soft tap. His head whipped around and he saw Eva, _normal, beautiful Eva_ Ry thought as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"You okay? You sort dozed of there" Eva said her tone concerned as she spoke to the elite.

"Yeah, just a bad dream" Ry said as he tried to calm his breathing down.

"You want to talk about it?" Eva asked him placing her hand on his. Ry looked at her, he could see the concern in her eyes and she looked at him in the most caring gaze he had ever been put under.

"No, I can't" Ry said depressed as he looked away.

"I understand, there is a lot that people can't talk about" Eva said before she gave a small chuckle and grin "Especially in this line of work"

"Yeah, that is the truth" Ry said lightheartedly. The two sat in silence at the table for a minute or so, the clock may have said three twelve but to them it felt like ten at night.

"Let's go take a nap" Eva said excitedly as she stood up taking Ry's hand.

"Together?" Ry asked surprised at the idea.

"Well being a little foreword aren't we?" Eva said sarcastically "of course come on we both need sleep"

Ry stood and Eva led him through the ship, her hand still grasped his as she did. Ry saw a few of the ships crew give him questioningly glances but most of them just stayed busy with their jobs. _Well, this is different _Ry thought to himself as Eva opened the door to her quarters and lead the elite inside. Ry looked around the room, for a solider Eva had a messy room and the amount of personalization would be against regulations for sure. Ry looked around at the different posters in the room_ well she likes music I can see that_ Ry thought seeing posters for different bands. Her room had lights hanging from the ceiling and she had thrown a rug on the metal floor.

"This doesn't look much like a soldier's room" Ry said condescendingly. Eva laughed at the comment before sitting on the bed.

"Well, your use to seeing male soldiers quarters" Eva said happily as she patted a spot next to her. Ry sat down next to her, his gaze drifted over her as she tossed her NWU blouse off _oh thank god she has a shirt on under that_ Ry thought as she tossed the garment on the floor and kicked of her shoes. She looked up at him with a smile.

"You can get comfortable" she said.

"Oh, right" Ry said whimsically and took of his boots. Eva sat back up and scooted closer to the elite.

"Lay down" she said softly. Ry laid his body down on the soft be and let his head rest on the pillows at the top of the bed. Eva lay down next to him and shimmed her way close to his chest and pulled his arm over her. Ry yanked the covers up over them, causing Eva to hum contently with a smile on her face. Ry placed his head on top of hers, _this feels awkward _Ry thought but when Eva snuggled even closer his thought just drifted away. _Well, if dad could see me now he would probley smack me around for laying in bed with a human_ Ry thought as he closed his eyes _well fuck him_.

"Lights off" Ry said and the lights in the room turned off. The battle weary solider felt the grasp of sleep tugging on him and he let himself be pulled into a deep, comforting sleep.

May 13th 3232, 1500 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan firing range:

TJ sat on one of the crates near the firing range as the armory master began to explain how to use the new gun that sat on a table. He called it a Squad Automatic Weapon or SAW. It had the designation of MK60 Mod 0 but he just called it the MK60. It had a long barrel with a bipod attached to it and a metal drum magazine hung underneath the gun. The weapon was belt feed and had a rail system on the top along with near the barrel and hand grip. The stock was solid and it looked to be heavy _I can deal with heavy that is some serious fire power_ TJ thought to himself.

"The MK60 fires your standard 7.62 by 51 millimeter plasma encased round, its is belt feed from the drum magazine and has a rate of fire of seven hundred and fifty rounds a minute" the marine said and the assembled infantry men and women were almost drooling over the gun,

"Everyone will get to shot this gun now get in lines at the range areas and wait for your turn" the armory master said. TJ rushed over to one of the set up weapons and stood behind it.

"Alright let's get you started, assume the prone position" the electronic range master said. TJ got in the prone position and the device began to take him through the steps of getting ready to fire the gun. He lifted the top of the feed tray and placed the first round in the chamber of the gun then slammed the feed tray closed and racked the bolt. _Oh, yes this is going to be a fun gun! _TJ thought to himself right before the range master gave him the go ahead to fire. TJ squeezed the trigger and the gun rattled of rounds at a high rate. TJ's smile grew as he fired the gun in bursts of fire at the targets. _I am getting myself one of these!_

May 13th 3232, 2147 SMT/ Heaven/ Camp Kau Shan:

John stood in the briefing room in his full armor. He glanced at the other squad members around him. The spartans were fully armored and loaded out with weapons. TJ and Yazid had take the new MK60s so that each fire team had a support weapon, they had silenced SMGs as their back up weapons should the squad need to work on the down low and be quiet/ The squad sat in silence as they were tired and were not quite awake yet, save for John due to the fact he had been talking with Kat on one of the phone lines.

Ack-Ack stood at the front of the room and pulled a map up of the edge of the city and a large section of the jungle.

"Evening sierra" Ack-Ack said passively.

"Evening sir" a few squad members mumbled back in turn. John shock his head_ some on people wake up_ he thought to himself. They had just been awoken and told to gear up for an operation. The squad had begrudgingly woken up and made their way to the meeting room.

"Wake the fuck up troopers!" Ack-Ack said angrily "I don't care if you are tired, the situation has just gotten serious and I need the best, which is you so suck it up"

"Yes sir!" the spartans yelled back a as they were shaken out of their sleepy state.

"At approximately 1315 Standard military time Leckie and his squad were deployed on patrol. They had gone farther into the jungle than any other squad we have sent" Ack-Ack said with his tone factious as he pointed to the screen "they were ordered to report in every two hours and the missed the last check in, then we got signals lost status on them"

"Sir, what exactly was the cause of the loss of signals?" Julie asked concerned.

"We don't know, we lost contact at grid 89-50" Ack-Ack said sighing a bit "they are as of right now assumed MIA, but they are not the main concern"

"Sir we have a missing spartan squad and you are telling me that is not a major concern!" Jason said "seems like a big deal to me!"

"Jason get your bearing back, it is a big deal but the more pressing matter is that when we lost signal we still had video feed right before but we couldn't talk to them"

"They only jammed the comm. network?" Carrero said "that wasn't smart on their part"

"Yes, the video gave us a glimpse of what we think may be their base, then we lost signal" Ack-Ack said sighing in concern.

"So what is the mission sir?" Darrel said "Find the squad or sit her and talk about it with out thumbs up our as like HIGHCOM?

The spartans all laughed as the joke seemed to lighten the mood for a brief second.

"No, you will be dropped in a click from their last known position" Ack-Ack said "We can not pick up the long range status monitors but if you can get with in range you could pick up their localized IFFs"

"Well let's load up" John said but the colonel held up his hand.

"Only one fire team is going to find the squad, the rest of you are doing recon on the area we lost connection" Ack-Ack said "everyone will have two hardened uplinks that are network linked to this HQ. John you set up who does what"

"Sir what if we do find the base?" Darrel asked inquisitively.

"You hold tight and radio it in then wait for further orders" Ack-Ack said.

"Sir what is our escape and evade plan?" John asked the colonel_ god hoping that we don't need one_ John thought to himself. Ack-Ack nodded and pulled up the tactical layer on the map screen.

"Should you be compromised you will have all available support including navy. If compromised you are to proceeded to LZ alpha for exfil, should you not be able to do so there are three more set up" Ack-Ack said pointing to four spots on the map "Should the air zone be to hot or we do lose connection make your way back here by foot, make sure to load your packs for the contingency just incase"

"Sir, do we have in better intelligence?" Maria asked as she studied the map "I don't like not being in the know"

"All we got is that they have a trick up their sleeve and that it is a Turian base, so expect Turks, squidheads and lizards" Ack-Ack said "load up for silent recon everything quite"

"Aye sir" Maria said.

"If that is all, good luck and bring those spartans home" Ack-Ack said with serious concern in his voice.

"Aye, Aye"

**Please review, seriously please review.**


	20. The Ruins of Heaven

**Well, sorry for the long wait but the truth is I got bored with this for while and decided to start on it again. Im not going to feed you guys some bull about how I had work, and family and all that stuff. I did but that doesn't constitute near two months between updates. I would hope to see some more feedback for this chapter; seriously reviews are what fuel a lot of us to write. That is kind of the reason I got bored, I didn't think there was a lot of interest any more but ****psykotic addiction said that several hundred people would like to see another chapter. If that's true I want several hundred reviews! Just kidding, a few would be nice but im going to start writing this story again as much as I can. No more eight week breaks, maybe one or two but not a month. Also the poll about who is everyone's favorite character is still open so please vote in that. So enough of my bullshit, here is chapter twenty and the final part of the battle of Heaven. **

May 13th 32323, 2203 SMT/ Heaven/ In route to LZ:

The two falcon VTOL craft soared over the jungle that was just outside the city of Adamscrest, the falcons flew low over the canopy of lush green leaves. The jungle of heaven covered most of the only forty percent land mass on the planet, including all the islands that filled the oceans. The jungle was lush and green at the top but once you started to go down through the layers it got unbelievably dark and thick as all the leaves on the trees grew up and all seemed to be reaching out for the sun. The result was that after the first seventy five feet most sun didn't get through and after one hundred and fifty you need thermal or NVG equipment to even see through the darkness. Many of the creatures on the forest floor had evolved the ability to see in the inferred spectrum and the lake of sun made the forest floors flora and fauna fungous and slender, thin animals. The jungle was home to some of the most ferocious predator species in UEG space and the spartans were about to drop into it in the dead of night.

"Sierra squad this is command, over" Jason heard through the radio speakers inside of his helmet. The two external hard links were running at full strength and the signal was completely lag free. Jason sat on the floor of the Falcon with his feet hanging of the edge in what was referred to as "ranger riding". His kept his rifle in one of his hands while his other grabbed on to one of the handles on the floor as the Falcon went into a banking turn.

"Command this is Sierra squad, roger over" John said in reply. The entire squad was listening in through the radio as command spoke over the comm. line.

"Sierra squad you are assigned designation Romeo three six, over"

"Understood command, we are ETA one minute to the LZ" John said over the communications link from where he sat in the tail seat of the lead falcon. Jason glanced at his brother from where he sat.

"Romeo three six, your primary objective is to move to lima squads last known position, from there you are to split up and recon the area that is suspect as Hostiles HQ. The other is to find lima squad, over"

"Roger command, what happens if communication links are lost? over" John asked through the comm. line. Jason shock his head at the question, _I don't even want to think about it_ he thought.

"Romeo three six, should we lose connection you are to patrol to outpost four one eight, over" Jason scuffed, _that outpost is at least a three days hump north of here_ he thought as he looked over the jungle _and in that place it will be more like a week_.

"Romeo three six, this is Colonel Ack-Ack" the entire squads heads shoot up at this "I know we do not have much Intel on what happened to Lima squad, I want you to be on the alert for anything"

"Roger sir, over"

"Good, if for any reason you lose the ability to communicate with us the mission is terminated and you are to get your selves out, over" Ack-Ack said with the concern obvious in his voice and tone.

"Understood sir" John said stiffly as the falcons dipped down lower over the tops of the trees, the aircraft blending into the darkened sky as a large bank of clouds blew over the jungle from the west. Jason let go of the handle as the falcon came to a hover, he rolled his shoulders.

"Sir, we are at the LZ, over" John said as he stood up and went over to the side of the falcon.

"Roger, good hunting Romeo three six, get it done"

"command this is Romeo three six, wilco, out" John said and switched the comm. line off.

"Every one hook up" John ordered the squad. Jason stood up and attached the repelling cable from his waist to the slot on the falcon and he leaned out from the craft with his feet braced on the edge, Carrero did the same next to him. They had their rifles up and at the ready as the prepared to enter the unknown below them. _Oh boy_ Jason thought and he looked at Cale and TJ as they were on the other side of the craft.

"Go" John said and the four spartans pushed off the edge and the repelling cable began to play out. Jason kept his rifle ready with his left hand, as his right worked the controls. The spartans pushed through the top leaves of the jungle and ascend into the dark abyss.

"Turn on your thermal visor, there wont be enough light for the NVGs to work" Jason said and turned on the thermal visor and the darkness surrounding him came to life in bright colors. He looked around he could see monkeys of some sort watching them quietly from the tree branches, the trees all seemed to glow at a steady color as their temperature didn't change. The three spartans were light up like Christmas trees from the heat that their armor gave off.

"Two hundred feet to ground" Jason said through the line as he looked down, he could see that floor was clear of any animal life but was covered mud _I feel sorry for whoever has to clean our armor once this op is over_ Jason thought. His feet touched a tree branch but he stepped on and down the sides like one would when repelling on a wall. A snake of some sort hissed at him and lunged to bit him but only managed to smack its face against his shields and break its nose. Jason laughed shaking his head at the snake the fell from the tree no longer able to hold on to the branch from being in shock from smashing its face.

"What you laughing at?" John asked his brother questioningly.

"Ill tell you when you get down here" Jason said between chuckles, he checked his distance to the ground and saw he only had twenty more feet to go. His feet touched the damp floor of the jungle and he un did the repelling cable from his waist. The cable shot back up like a rocket. Jason went foreword and crouched down forming a plus sign with the other three spartans as they made a perimeter.

"This is Angel; first four from falcon two are on ground, setting up perimeter"

"roger that angel, once im ground side we will rendouv at your position" John said from above Jason, he looked up quickly to see his brother descending from what seemed like no where. Jason could here the sound of all the animals in the jungle calling to each other, a collection of chirps, howls, and rabbits. The spartans scanned the area with their rifles, _rule number one on recon, always assume the enemy has eyes on you_ Jason thought to himself _yeah, well them and every blasted thing in this jungle_. Johns feet his ground, the squad remaining quiet and staying as silent as possible. The audio receptors in Jason's helmet picked up every sound being made in the jungle.

"good, im going to turn on my audio filters and block all this damn noise" TJ said as he reached up for his helmet.

"don't, as long as they a chirrpen, means we are safer" Carrero said in his usual half-crazed monotone.

"He is right, as long as we can hear the wildlife we don't have much concern" John said as he walked over to Jason and crouched next to him pulling up his TAC-pads map and projecting it out "Once they stop, then I would be really concerned"

"The others are about sixty feet that way" Jason said pointing towards his left some at the group of UNSC tags.

"Alright" John said checking the map "Angel, hold the others there. Im going to check something on the map"

"Roger that sir, holding tight" Angel said her voice some what annoyed.

"Jason, Lima squads last known position was about two clicks south by south east" John said in a tone that conveyed to his brother that he was deep in thought.

"Meaning that if we lose our line to command it would be only once we are in by maybe one click and after two we would lose our status links" Jason said reading his brothers mind in the way only twins seem to be able to.

"Just what I was thinking, how many of those markers we got?" John asked his brother.

"we all have five on us so plenty" Jason said.

"Good, alright let's move to Angel's position and get this show on the road" John said and held up his hand then closed it in a fist. The spartans formed up behind him in a wedge shape with John at its point and started to walk into the jungle. They kept their rifles up in what was known as patrol carry, barrels down but the stocks in their shoulders. After a few seconds they made it to Angel's position. The other five spartans turned their gaze on them but relaxed once the recognized them. Angel's group had been behind a large bank of leaves that looked like they were coming off a collapsed tree. The ten spartans all walked over and formed a circle around John as he pulled up the map on his tac-pad and projected it out so the squad could see it better.

"We are about two clicks from our primary objective but if we are to lose our connection then it will be after a click. I don't want to get lost in this place so after every two hundred meters I want a marker on a tree" John said looking around at the squad. He could, even though they wore full enclosed helmets that they were studying the map. He turned the map off and stood up.

"weapons check" John ordered the team and they all went about making sure their rifles were set and ready. Jason smacked the magazine to make sure it was seated properly and tightened the suppressor on his rifle before nodding to his brother. _Let's get a move on bro_ Jason thought.

"Weapons are all good boss man" Yazid said in his pleasant tone.

"Good, form up" John began "Flank set up"

The spartans moved into their leaders chosen formation, with the two fire teams formed up in wedge formations twenty feet apart from each other. Each fire team had one of the two snipers in the back.

"Move out, remember every two hundred meters" John said in his ordering tone of voice and the spartan squad moved out at a light jog towards their objective, the jungles many eyes watching them as they did. Jason walked foreword keeping low as he lead Carrero, TJ and Cale thought the Jungle. Julie covered them from the rear with her sniper rifle at the ready. Jason's motion tracker was practically buzzing from the animals that were moving around them inside of the jungle. Jason kept his rifle at the ready as they walked along slowly making as little noise as possible. The sound of voices that they could tell were clearly not human could be heard from around thirty feet ahead of them. _Flanging of the voice, Turians and the regal sounding one is most certainly an asari _Jason thought. He held up his fist and John copied the motion to Jason's left.

"Hostile patrol directly in front of us" Jason whispered through the comms. His voice was low and calm but his hear was beating fast in his chest. John nodded and signaled them to go prone and spread out. The spartans all lay on their bellies and crawled under what ever underbrush they could, the spartans had an easier time blending due to the ghille material that they had applied to their armor before the mission. John crawled over to Jason and got next to his brother, Jason still scanned the area with his rifle. He couldn't see the enemy but he could hear them.

"Jason lets scout them out" John whispered and nodded his head foreword motioning for Jason to follow. The two spartans inched their way foreword and came to the large bushes that blocked the squads view foreword.

"The voices haven't moved, they aren't patrolling" Jason whispered in a curious tone.

"I don't care if they are having an orgy they are in our way and we need to stay uncompromised" John said "Come on"

The two spartans inched their way under the leaves and stopped once they could make out the area ahead of them, a small clearing. The hostiles sat around a small fire that they had set up and tents were around the area.

"Darrell, this is John have the squad move up to our positions" John whispered into the radio "We got a hostile camp"

"John, we need to hold fire and gather whatever Intel we can" Jason said as he kept his rifle trained on the asari who sat on a log near the fire. A few Turians sat around the fire as well talking, the translator in the Spartan's helmets made it possible to listen in to their conversation.

"Look Elisa, all I am saying is that something is off about some of the commanders" a Turian said.

"Im not disagreeing with you, They have been getting weirder to" Elisa, the asari, said as she leaned foreword with her "not to mention we lost contact with HQ and we are no where near the edge of the effective radio range"

"Yeah, its only three clicks back that way" A Turian said pointing with what Jason guessed was its thumb back over its shoulder. Jason felt Carrero crawl next to him he looked and saw that the spartans were all lying prone and watching the hostiles.

"boss man" Carrero whispered from next to him. Jason didn't even flinch; his aim remained steady on the asari that was only a mere thirty meters in front of him. The darkness kept him and his fellows hidden from their enemy's eyes.

"Stupid motion tracker" a Turian said "Thing is over sensitive, picking up every bug and worm in this damn jungle it seems"

"I know, makes it hard to distinguish between what is a threat and what is not" one of the Turians said. The troops all sat around the fire talking for another ten minutes or so, the entire time the spartan team watched from the shadows.

"Well, im headed to bed" Elisa said as she stood stretching, _Well their armor doesn't leave much to the imagination_ Jason thought as he admired the alien women's figure some what _to bad she will die here so_.

"Night, me and Jorus here will take first watch" one of the Turians said.

"Right get some sleep though we have to make it back as soon as the sun comes up, blasted NVG's are fritz" Elisa said and walked over to a tent.

"You know I hate you some times" Jorus said to his friend as the two sat around the fire.

"Jason, TJ, move in quietly and take them out. No gun fire." John whispered. Jason slid his rifle on to his back and drew his knife. TJ did the same and Jason motioned him to move foreword with a nod. The two spartans crawled foreword and out from under the bushes. Jason motion TJ with his hand to move around behind Jorus, The young spartan moved off silently, thankfully the noise damping soles in the armor made his footsteps barely audible. The ground was hard thankfully so mud was no problem. Jason lined himself up with the unnamed Turian; He waited, crouched like a panther waiting to strike. TJ nodded signaling that he was ready. The two spartans stepped foreword quietly and when they were close to the Turians Jason heard the one say "What the fuck?" Before TJ stabbed him in the throat at the same moment Jason slid his knife into the base of the other Turians skull. The darkness of the jungle floor at night made I hard for those without any NVG's or Thermal goggles to see more then ten feet. Jason set the Turians body down gently and motioned for the others to move into the clearing. John gave a quick set of hand movements that told the spartans to take the sleeping enemies out as they slumbered in their tents. The camp was made of only around six tents; Jason opened the flap on one to find the asari asleep. He could tell that she was the leader, _more valuable alive than dead_ Jason thought as he took his pistol out and stuck it in the asari's neck.

"Stop that it tickles" she said in her sleep. Jason placed a hand over her mouth, the aliens eyes snapped open at this. She was about to use her biotics but was stopped when Jason growled "try it and you die". Jason quickly pulled her up into a chock hold and led her out of the tent. All the other spartans stood outside, their knives blackened with Turian blood.

"Cuff her, she is this groups leader" Jason said. Carrero quickly placed cuffs around her wrists; he wasn't gentle and caused the asari to wince. Once her hands were secure Jason shoved her onto the ground and pointed his pistol at her. The sound of metal and safeties being flipped filled the small camp as the spartans all pointed their weapons at the asari. She was wide eyed.

"You are this squad's leader?" John asked her as he pointed his suppressed assault rifle at her.

"I won't tell you anything" She said defiantly. _Great, for once some cooperation would be nice_ He thought sighing. The asari glared at them all, she had taken her armor off and was currently in a pair of shorts and a small shirt. _Rule two of patrol never, assume safety _Jason thought.

"Well, Elisa you can tell us what we want to know now or after I beat you senseless" Jason said angrily "You pick"

She glared at them, calling what she assumed was a bluff.

"Alright" Jason said sliding his pistol on to its magnetic holding strap on his thigh. Jason cocked a fist back and the asari's eyes grew wide.

The asari then realized Jason was serious, but it was too late as he landed a punch square in her gut. He didn't punch at full strength since it would kill her but enough to crack a rib. Elisa gasped and started to cough as she doubled over in pain.

"Alright, I am this group's leader. Im not some solider though, im just a merc" The asari said between cough and gasps as she tried to get her wind back.

"Good, now tell where the Head Quarters is" John said aggressively.

"Its three clicks south of here, we lost radio contact while on a week patrol around the perimeter" Elisa said "we were on our way back to find out what happened but then you showed up"

"Right, tell us everything about the base" Jason said. The asari answered all their questions. She told them how the command was falling apart and how the fleet was planning to leave them behind since there was no hope for them.

"Now, what happened to the other recon team" John asked the girl.

"What recon team?" She asked incredulously, as she leaned against the log that one of her dead comrades was laying dead with a knife wound in the back of his head on the other side. Jason cocked his fist back but the asari held her hands up, pleading him to stop. John placed a hand on Jason's shoulder; he stopped and glanced at him.

"Jason, that is enough" John said "she doesn't know"

"Damn right, I don't know anything about that!" the asari exclaimed.

"Ok, Angel see to the hostage" John said "everyone else set up a perimeter and get these bodies out of here"

"Alright boss" Carrero said "Cale, TJ get the bodies out of here. Maria and Julie get a perimeter set up"

"Sounds good" Maria said in her usual flat tone of voice. Julie and Maria disappeared into the trees. Angel crouched down next to the asari and started to bandage the alien's rib cage. The spartans watched the area as the three selected tossed the dead Turians into the forest.

"Jason what the hell was that?" John asked his brother angrily.

"What was what?" Jason asked flatly.

"That back there punching a hostage?" John asked him.

"Its called interrogation John" Jason growled "we got what we need now drop it"

"For now, but this discussion is far from over" John said "We don't do that sort of thing, got it?"

"Whatever" Jason said looking away but he was snapped back to face his brother.

"That would be a yes sir" John said angrily.

"Yes sir" Jason said shrugging his brother's hand off his shoulder.

"Command this is Romeo Six Three, over" John said with his hand pressed to the uplinks activation button so there was a solid contact between him and the HQ.

"Go ahead Romeo Six Three"

"We have obtained the location of the enemy headquarters" John said as he pulled up his TACPAD and glanced over the map on his wrist of the area "The base is around three clicks or so south of our current position. However that is with in the area where we lost contact with lima squad and we have a hostage to attend to"

"Understood Romeo Six Three, send a small team to scout out the base then report back, over"

"Roger that command, Wilco, Romeo Six Three out" John said and dropped his hand down from the uplink on the side of his helmet.

"Snipers in position" Julie said over the squad's short range comm. line.

"John, what is next" Jason asked his brother as he walked over next to him.

"We cant all go ahead, we have a hostage plus the base is smack in the middle of where lima squad dropped out of contact" John said sighing "Im going to take my fire team and go to lima's LKP then scout the enemy base. You are to hold here and monitor our radio frequencies, if we drop out of contact for any reason you are not to come after us"

"John im not going to leave you behind" Jason said his tone strong.

"I know you won't but now is not the time, we can't risk losing everyone" John said.

"Alright but I want radio checks every fifteen" Jason said shacking his head.

"You got it, fire team one on me" John said and lead Angel, Cale and Yazid of into the jungle.

"They will be fine" Carrero said shrugging. Jason nodded and sat down on one of the logs that sat around the fire. The asari glared at him from where she sat, Jason didn't really care about it. He was finding that he didn't care about much right now, _john, the squad, angel, and mother. Yeah that is about it I think_ Jason thought as he stared into the fire from behind the visor of his helmet.

May 13th 3232, 2258 SMT/ Heaven/ Lima squad's LKP:

John held up his hand causing the three spartans behind him to stop. They crouched down as John examined something on the ground. They team had been walking for around half an hour and had yet to find the missing spartans but something told John that they just had.

"Angel get up here" John said. The medic walked foreword and crouched down next to John.

"What does that look like to you?" John said pointing to a wet spot on the ground. Angel looked it over.

"I would say its blood but it is not anything I have ever seen" She said as she put an f finger in it and brought the finger up to eye level. She turned on the flashlight on her helmet and examined it.

"Well?" John asked "it looks Turian to me"

"No, Turians blood is darker, almost black" Angel said as she studied the blood "strange, its light gray and very thin almost like oil but it is defiantly organic in nature"

"Meaning what?" Cale asked as he glanced back from his rifle.

"That this is either some unknown species from inside this jungle or our enemies have another ally" Angel said. John studied the blood under the light, it was a light gray and some bits of almost robotic blue gleamed from with in it.

"What is with the blue bits?" John asked Angel, he didn't like what was going on and his tone more than showed that.

"Don't know, could be antibodies or something" Angel said. John looked it over but he was getting the feeling they were being watched. He glanced around but didn't see anything in the area.

"You here that?" Cale asked the group.

"I don't hear a damn thing in this Allah forsaken jungle" Yazid said angrily. John listened and didn't hear anything, no animals, no insects, nothing was making a sound.

"Shit" John said "get that light out now"

The flashlight went out on Angel's helmet but three more turned on and the spartans were all blinded briefly. John looked and saw three spartans standing to his left; they had their weapons pointed at them. One of them had a rocket launcher leveled at the group and the other two had their under slung grenade launchers ready to take them out.

"Helmets off, now" One of the spartans said fiercely.

"Whoa calm down, same side" John said.

"Helmets, now!" the spartan said "I wont ask again!"

"Alright calm down" John said and placed his rifle down then removed his helmet. The other three did the same, they stood still and an unnerving silence passed.

"Sev, their clean alright" one of the spartans said.

"Alright, stand down" Sev ordered. He walked over to John and removed his own helmet, an ODST style helmet. Sev had short black hair and stubble around his face, and dark brown eyes.

"Major John Wells, Sierra squad"

"Second Lt Tomas Shevchenko, Lima squad but you can call me Sev. The one with the rockets is Corporal Dante Garza and the other is Shawn Natko"

"Were the rest of your squad?" John asked the spartans curiously.

"We are what's left sir" Shawn said from Sev's right "we have been trying to get a hold of anyone but our radios equipment is useless and we don't have any hardened uplinks"

"Ok, we were sent to find you and then locate the hostile base" John said "any idea were that is exactly?"

"Yeah we just came from that way but it's a hell hole" Sev said.

"Well, lead us to the base then" John said.

"Hell no, sir that place is a god damn death trap" Dante said "bastards took all but us out I anit going back"

"Well that is not up to you son, now Sev lead on" John said.

"Sir, he is right that place is nothing but a way to commit suicide" Sev said.

"I hear you but we take that base out and we all go home so lead on" John said. Sev glared at him briefly before putting his helmet back on.

"your funeral"

May 13th 3232, 2326 SMT/ Heaven/ Jason's Position:

Jason stared into the fire, Elisa had fallen asleep and the spartans were busy watching the area. Jason removed his helmet and took a sip of water from his canteen, the jungle was humid and easily felt like it was over the actual temperature of seventy degrees.

"Jason, this is John"

"Go ahead"

"We found three survivors from Lima squad and are headed to the enemy Headquarters to scout out the area. Our long range radios are having problems so I will need you relay tom command"

"understood John, wilco. Stay safe"

"You now me Jason" John said in his usual response from when they were young boys.

"That is why I told you to stay safe" Jason said shaking his head as the line went dark. Jason pulled his helmet back on and sealed it, the environment controls kicked in and he felt the air in the helmet cool down. _Best part about this armor by fair_ Jason thought as he closed his, the cool air felt nice on his skin.

"Jason, we got movement on our scopes" Maria said "its no animal either, looks like a hostile patrol maybe"

"understood" Jason said and snapped to life. He quickly gave the other three orders with hand signals. They grabbed their weapons and readied for the enemy, Jason dumped his canteen on the fire and the area went pitch black.

"They are going to be right on top of us soon" Julie said quietly. _No one do anything stupid_ Jason thought to himself but it was a mute point.

"Over Here!" Elisa yelled.

"Fuck!" Jason yelled and crouched up and took aim as one of the Turians came running into the clearing but something seemed off about it some how. The alien wasn't in a combat stance and held its rifle one handed, its usual black eyes had a white glow to them and the veins around the aliens eyes glow with the same ghostly white.

"Shoot it!" Carrero yelled before filling the alien with plasma encased lead. More of the aliens poured into the clearing firing their weapons widely and seeming to have no idea about self preservation. Jason fired again into another Turian creature, the thing twisted and convulsed as a round passed through its heart.

"Jason!" Julie yelled to them as she jumped down from the spot in the tree "there are a lot more coming!"

"Great!" Carrero yelled as he fired tossed a grenade into a mass of the creatures as they shambled out from the bush.

"Command this is Romeo Six Three Alpha team, we need an immediate evac!" Jason yelled through the comm. line.

"Roger that, the canopy is to thick for a falcon to land. You are going to have to use the cables to extract"

"Fine, just get here!" Jason yelled as more of the creatures came at them.

"Grenades!" Jason yelled and all six of the spartans tossed grenades into the middle the area where the things were coming from. They spartans had taken cover behind the logs but the need was not as much as usual due to the creatures seeming to forget that they had weapons. The six grenades thundered and the explosion cleared out a large group of the hostiles and some of the underbrush making it so that the spartans had more clear lanes of fire.

"Romeo Six Three, this is command. Two falcons are inbound to extract you ETA is ten minutes"

"We may not have ten minutes!" Jason yelled.

May 13th 3232, 2331 SMT/ Heaven/ enemy HQ perimeter:

John lead his team through the enemy base, it was void of any life at all. The camp was set up around what appeared to be an ancient run of sorts. The ruins were pyramid like with a large base sloping upward into more pyramids on top of this one. There didn't seem to be many entrances. The spaces between the structures on the base were filled with Turian encampments and prefabs. There was a massive clearing of any plants around it. John pulled a flap on a tent back and saw that it was empty.

"I don't get it when we scouted this place out there was hostiles every where, no there is not a damn thing" Shawn said. Sev crouched down and examined the ground. Any fires had long since burned out and were now smoldering.

"Most of the tracks lead towards the ruin but some lead away" Sev said "I Don't like this, they have more than likely sent out a group to find us"

"What exactly is going on?" John asked the spartan officer.

"When we scouted this place out, most of the hostile forces were" Sev thought for a second "different than what they usually are, they didn't fire their weapons but rather acted more like a pack of animals then soldiers. We were discovered by a patrol of the things on they way out but the patrol quickly turned into the whole damn force it seemed. We were overwhelmed and that's when the others were killed or drug off"

"Yeah, the whole lot was weird. Turian, asari, batarian all had glowing white eyes and shit" Shawn said "I don't like being back here"

"Wait, are you saying that an entire force of council forces went bat shit nuts and is now acting like a pack of rapid dogs?" Cale asked unbelievingly.

"Basically, yes" Sev said "and those who got dragged off are more than likely in the same boat now"

"Enough belly aching, lets get to the HQ and gather whatever Intel we can then get out of here" Darrel said "speaking of belly aches I am damn hungry so lets get a move on please sirs"

"I agree, lets move" John said and lead the spartans through the camp. They watched everywhere for any signs of hostiles. _Nothing at all, no fires, no movement, and no anything_ John thought to himself.

"I don't like this" John said as he stepped onto one of the stairs on the ruins. There was a large collection of prefab buildings at the top that he could tell was the enemy HQ.

"Great, you don't like this" Dante said "that is right up there with 'what could possible go wrong'"

"Oh shut up" Yazid said annoyed "we have been in thicker shit than this"

"John, this is Jason!"

"Jason, what is going on?" John asked as he could here screeches and gunfire in the background. His brother's voice wasn't its usual flat tone but shaky and worried.

"We are being attacked by some weird ass hostiles, we have to evac"

"Understood, we are at the enemy base its is completely abandoned" John said "have the falcons stay on station, we will need extracted as well"

"Right, Shit!" Jason yelled as a loud burst of gunfire filled the commline before Jason returned "we are being over run here just get it done so these things don't find you!"

"What do you mean weird hostiles?" John asked worriedly as more screeches filled the line along with gunfire.

"Glowing eyes and shit! Get what you can then get out John!" Jason yelled "watch your back!"

"Wilco" John said before looking at the others "come on lets get this done and then lets go"

John quickly walked over to one of the prefabs and stacked up on the door, Darrel went on the other side. John gave him a nod and the spartan turned to face the door and gave it one hard swift kick. The door flew off its hinges and the seven spartans stormed into the room.

"Clear" Cale said.

"Clear" Angel repeated "area is secure"

"Good mine this place for Intel and lets get ready to move" John said as he went to work on a console "Cale, Yazid watch the door. I aint human kill it"

"Aye, aye" Yazid said as he took cover by the door and watched the area outside the door "Allah watch over the others"

John searched over the files on the screen; his helmets visor displayed the alien text into English so that he could understand what was being said. He read over a few of the entries and they kept mentioning some artifact that they had found in the ruin.

"Sev and Shawn on me, there is something we need to check out in the ruin" John said "says here that they found something and I want to know what it is"

"Sir I draw the line at entering dark ruins that more than likely contain some sort of hellish monster that can control people or turn them into freaks" Shawn said "I maybe a spartan but that doesn't mean I have a death wish"

"Fall in solider" John said as he glared at the spartan from behind his visor.

"Shawn now is not the time alright just follow the Major's orders" Sev said "even if they are insane"

"What ever, lets go into the dank, dark, ruin that clearly should have never been disturbed" Shawn said throwing his hands in the air. John shook his head and lead the two out of the building and towards the large doorway in the ruins. A light fixture was set up around it that cast a ghastly red light around the entrance reinforcing that this could very well be a bad idea. John lead the two other spartans into the ruins, his rifle up and ready to kill.

Angel sat at one of the computers examining some of the medical reports that were in the system. Her eyes glanced over the reports that were of little concern to her, _gunshot wounds, and broken ankle from falling nice job Turian dumbass, more wounds from engagements _she thought as she looked the reports over but stopped when she came to one of the reports on a Turian who had gone crazy and attacked his patrol. Angel looked over the images of the autopsy, _wow he got hit by an entire clip it seems_. She scanned over the report till she came to a section talking about bits of metal found inside the Turians brain, they metal was formed from the iron and minerals in the aliens body and the metal seemed to be relaying signals from some where.

"Angel, I found something interesting here" Dante said and pointed to the Turians radio equipment "its functioning properly, but there seems to be another signal jamming it or something"

Angel stood up and walked over looking the equipment over, she sighed.

"Look I deal with bodies not machines besides, the radio is still transmitting and I couldn't tell you what's wrong the thing is not even our tech" Angel said to the spartan. A silence filled the night; Angel found her self curious and turned the volume up on the radio. Static filled the silence, _Is that a voice?_ Angel asked herself as she listened close to the noise.

"Its just static, probley some bug in the system" Yazid said.

"Shut up" Angel snapped as she listened to the static trying to hear the voice "Listen"

She could barley hear it, it seemed to be speaking gibberish but the voice its self was what disturbed her.

"Angel, there is something in this report about spores or something from inside the ruin" Cale said as he looked at the console she was looking over only moments prior to the radio incident "our helmets are sealed so we should be fine but most Turian infantry we have seen wear tactical visors"

"I think I figured part of this out, the council forces open the ruin to fortify their position more but releases these spores and they take them over" Angels said in a matter of fact tone.

"Well keep helmets on at all times then" Cale said "and we wont have a problem"

Angel nodded and went over to the door of the prefab and looked out over the camp. She raised her BR57 and used the scope to survey the horizon. The spartans thermal imaging was still on to improve their combat capabilities and she could see the shapes of Turians, asari and the other council races moving around the edge heading back for their camp. They shambled along towards them unaware of the spartans presence.

"John we got incoming, hurry up" Angel said "im calling Jason for an evac now"

"Understood we are almost at the end of these lights, they are leading us some" John said but stopped mid sentence "my god what the hell is that!"

John stood in the opening of the tunnel that lead into, the large chamber was lit with an eerie blue light that bounced on the walls and seemed to come from the strange looking artifact in the center of the ruin. It was made of a deep purple material and there was a swirling mass of energy in the center of the outstretched tentacle arms of sorts. Around the artifact Turians, asari, and some of the other hostile races were bowing before it. They didn't notice the humans as they storied at the artifact. John stepped into the room and the thing sent out a flash of blue light causing all the hostiles in the room to stand up and face the spartans.

"Uh, shit" Sev said.

"Run!" John ordered before tossing a grenade into the large chamber and taking off back up the tunnel. He could here the sound of running footsteps and screeches from behind him as the creatures chased after the spartans. John turned around a corner and tossed another grenade back towards the creatures as they came after him.

"Move it!" John barked as the three ran for the top of the ramp. The messed up aliens came at them from passages that contacted to light one that they were following. Shawn tripped over something and stumbled a bit but Sev caught him and hauled him foreword as they burst from the tunnels and into the night. John turned and fired his rifle; they were now forced into a bottle neck and made them easier to kill. Sev and Shawn joined in; the other four spartans were all pouring lead into the massive of things that were running up the ruins steps at them.

"Jason, we need that evac now!" John yelled into the comms. From overhead as he did three falcons soared at them from out of the night sky.

"Here comes the Calvary!" Yazid yelled as the three falcons started to pour fire into the horde that was running at the spartans on top of the ruins. One of the Falcons swooped in to the top of the ruins and hovered close to ground. Maria sat in the tail seat and was firing her sniper rifle into the twisted alien creatures. The massive round would smash through two or three of the things as they mindlessly charged up the steps.

"We need to go now!" Maria yelled to the spartans.

"Get to the chopper!" John yelled to the spartans. Three of them broke and boarded the flacon. John glanced to the right of the tunnel entrance where the mass of creatures were running for them only to be gunned down by bullets and grenades. _A door panel!_ John thought and dashed for the device and smashed it with his fist. The doors were set up by the Turians and were set up so the door slid down from the slope that the entrance was made in. The door slid around a third of the way down the slope before becoming jammed up.

"Cale, help me!" John yelled. The spartans grabbed the door and pulled it down as the creatures no uncontested charged up the ramp. The door slammed down just as a Turian creature in the front smashed face first into it. John turned back and saw another falcon come in for a pick up but the horde was getting to close for comfort.

"Go!" John yelled to the remaining spartans. They fired their weapons as they ran to the falcon. Cale jumped on first, Angel leapt up to the VTOL craft quickly followed by Sev. The falcon moved off as another came down to get John the horde was now near the top.

The last falcon flew towards the opening but the pilot had come to close to the ground and a bunch of the creatures grabbed the falcon one of them jumped on the wind screen and smashed through it getting at the pilot. Jason saw what was happening and jumped from the craft as it careened off and wrecked on the ruins side. Jason landed and rolled he got up from the ground.

"Come on!' John yelled and pulled Jason to his feet. The two sprinted up the ruin towards the top. One of the falcon pilots saw what was going on and flew his craft towards the top of the pyramid like ruin. The two brothers ran side by side firing blindly behind them with their rifles one handed. They reached the top of the pyramid and could see the falcon hovering near the edge of the ruin. Jason sprinted and jumped across the gap between the craft and the edge of the ruin. John was a few steps behind but slipped on a lose rock and missed the jump. Time seemed to slow as he fell, his arms stretched out towards the craft. Jason grabbed a hold of johns hand but the spartans weight dragged his brother from the craft. Jason managed to grab onto the edge of the falcon and clamped on tight, his armored fingers dug into the metal floor.

"Ahhh!' Jason yelled as he felt his shoulder separate. John held on to his brother's arm, Jason growled as he began to use his one arm to pull his brother to safety. Jason was in obvious pain and struggled but he managed to hoist his brother up so he could grab the falcon's deck and pull himself in. John clamored up on to the falcon's deck and pulled Jason into the safety of the craft as well.

"John, can you read me?" A voice said over the long range comms.

"Colonel, this is John. You seeing this?" John asked knowing that the HQ had their mission cameras up on display.

"Yes, I want you out im activating the Hood Protocol on the area" Ack-Ack said "get out of there and back to base"

"Yes sir" John said. The three falcons banked away from the ruin as three UNSC battle cruisers overhead took aim at the area with their MAC cannons and prepped plasma torpedoes to glass the area. The Hood protocol is used when dealing with any sentient parasite that is found. It was made to deal with the flood and has only had to be used twenty times in the past seven hundred years.

John looked away as MAC rounds began to smash into the area along with hundreds of plasma torpedoes. Jason looked at the destruction as miles of Jungle was set ablaze and the ruins were turned into dust.

**Please review.**


	21. The Journey From Heaven to Turaxis Stati

**So, im glad to see that everyone was enjoying the latest chapter. Seven reviews nice, more favs and alerts, awesome. You guys are seriously the best, so here is chapter twenty one. Not much action in this chapter and there may or may not be action in the next one. Poll is still open so please continue to vote. Right now it seems that Eva is the favorite right now and don't worry she along with the rest of the ONI gang. Please continue to review.**

With the destruction of the Turians base in the Jungles of Heaven the battle was over for the council races and the brutes. The 9th MEF had pushed the Turians and brutes out of the city and off world in their area. Many of the other forces had done the same and now the 9th, 4th and 2nd MEF were being shipped out to Turaxis Station, a starport and Las Vegas in space, for refit, repair, resupply and reinforcement in preparation for the largest single invasion of one world that would occur in the known galactic history.

May 19th 3232, 1312 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell_ / in route to Turaxis Station:

Jason Wells sat in one of the chairs in the briefing room; he leaned back in the seat causing it to creak some. His left arm was in a sling from when he had separated it when he had grabbed John and prevented him from falling to his death. The injury would only take around three more days to heal thanks to the miracles of modern medicine and military grade equipment. The Spartan officer was not paying much attention to the debriefing that some ONI spook was giving sierra squad on the battle that they had at the ruins on haven. He could careless about it and had already given the man his testimony on what happened and was now just waiting to sign away his right to free speech on the whole deal. John however was looked on the officer who was giving the briefing to the spartans.

"Now, what happened there was" the ONI spook began but Jason interrupted him.

"Classified yeah" Jason began "Now show me what ever piece of scrap I got to sign so I can get out of here and grab some damn chow"

"Going over this mission is not important" The spook said narrowing his eyes at the spartan. Jason rolled his eyes and pulled his cigar case from the thigh pocket on his digi-blue trousers. The spook didn't notice as Jason took the case out. There was not an ash tray in the table so Jason grabbed an empty Styrofoam bowl that had held cereal before. The squad had gotten up around 1130 and had been in the briefing since they got up. They had to eat morning chow while they were being debriefed.

"Hey, Carrero help me out here" Jason said handing the case to the Hispanic who pulled the top off of it and pulled on of the two cigars out of the case and closed the lid.

"I like the way you think boss man" Carrero said smiling and produced his own smoke.

"Snafu, pass me a match" TJ said from Carrere's right. TJ had pulled his pipe out from a pocket; he had picked it up at the ships store. He had taken to it better than cigars it seemed to Jason, he was always cleaning it, smoking it or just had in his teeth. _Well, TJ seems like he found a way to keep himself busy _Jason though to himself. Carrero handed TJ a book of matches and Jason a cut cigar. The three lit their individual smoke of choice up; Jason pushed the bowl between him and Carrero. The spook continued to talk while looking over the map; he was asking the squad questions as they followed the mission minute by minute. Jason took a draw on his cigar and let the smoke out as he stared of into space. He seemed to stair for a few seconds but it was actually more like a minute. His hand had found its way around Angel's shoulder as he relaxed in his seat. She leaned into him; the two had become closer out of a need for some sort of companionship.

"Major Wells!" the spook snapped getting the spartans attention. John had sat in the front of the room to better answer any questions. John had always been one for the rules more than Jason and it showed. The briefing room was not a non-smoking room along with most of the ship saves for medical, engineering, the armory and the other vital areas of the ship. The captain of the ship had allowed it so the marines could relax and enjoy themselves after their time on the ground. The ONI spook however did not know of this when he snapped at Jason.

"Yes dear?" Jason said looking at the spook with a false smile on his face. The spartans chuckled at Jason's remark. John shook his head as he laughed at his brother's usual sense of humor.

"Would you mind putting that out?" the spook asked.

"Yes actually" Jason said "I would, you see this is a really good stick and I need to relax some"

"You can relax after we get through this" the spook said.

"If we ever do" Carrero said in his drawn out speech as he pulled his own cigar from his lips.

"This is important; you made contact with something that we hadn't discovered" the spook said "Im here to find out exactly what happened"

"What happened?" Cale said "we walked into a shit storm, now im hungry so just give me the damn paper so I can eat already"

The ONI officer's nostrils flared but he grabbed a handful of the forms and placed one in front of each of the spartans.

"Fucking Finally" John said as he grabbed a pin signed his name and stood up. The other spartans did the same and stood up to leave the room but the spook spoke up to stop them.

"I didn't dismiss you yet" he said angrily.

"You want to know what happened watch the mission cameras, my squad is hungry, tired and battle weary something you could never relate to so shove it" John said gruffly and lead the spartans out of the room and to the mess hall to get some grub. They stopped outside the mess hall at the back of a line.

"Nice" Jason said from next to his brother "I thought you were becoming a stuck up asshole"

"Ha, I only yelled at you because the punching was unnecessary" John said smiling "Besides, it's the past and we are brothers. I would stand by you till the day we die"

"Same here John, brothers to the end" Jason said smiling.

"We would all stand by you John" Darrel said to the squad leader. John had always wanted to make sure that he led his team as best he could ever since he got selected for it. He looked around at the squad and saw the others nodding at him, in that moment he knew that they had his back.

"Yeah, like Jason said" Carrero began as he crossed his arms and put his cigar to his lips "Family, till the bitter end"

May 19th 3232, 1413 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell_/ Colonel Ack-Ack's Private office and suite:

Ack-Ack sat behind his desk going over paper work that dealt with all the new replacements for the spartan company. _We lost too many men in that damned city _The colonel thought as he went over the list of replacements; ninety eight names had been inked on to the paper. _There is not a man im getting that is not more than a buck sergeant _Ack-Ack thought shaking his head _im going to have to promote a lot of veterans now_. The colonels office was simple, pictures of a younger spartan when he was still in a squad in Gulf Company with the 12th MEF. A marine core flag hung on one wall, the scarlet and gold fabric shimmered in the light. The colonel didn't display any of his medals or awards, he found that they were inconsequential and we only wore them in dress uniforms. The only medal that sat on his desk was the UNSC Medal of Honor, though it didn't belong to him. Ack-Ack looked the medal over his face became depressed as he looked at the medal. He picked the single picture that sat on his desk; a younger man looked up at him. The man wore a sharp set of dress blues and his arm was around a young girl who couldn't be any older than nineteen. She had vibrant blonde hair that was cut short military style and stuck out from under her officer's cap. Her uniform was pressed, cleaned and flawless. Ack-Ack's eyes settled on the shinning badge on the right of her chest, the ranger insignia had caught a shin and reflected the vibrant, youthful life that the girl had in her eyes. Her gleaming smile seemed to outshine even the sun in the picture, a tear rolled down the aging colonel's face as his thoughts drifted to his now deceased daughter. The noise of his door being opened and heavy footsteps drew his attention as an ONI officer came storming into his room. Ack-Ack glared at the man, he could already that someone had pissed him off and now he had come to complain. Lieutenant commander Insignias adorned his uniform along with the ONI badge on his chest. A small rack of ribbons sat above the badge and like all ONI personal he wore no name tag.

"Care to explain exactly why you have come storming into my office, ma Lieutenant commander?" Ack-Ack asked angrily as he stood up to face the man.

"Yes, gladly sir" the major said "I was the officer instructed with debriefing sierra squad as part of an investigation into what exactly happened at the ruins in the jungle"

"And?" Ack-Ack asked raising a graying eyebrow.

"Sierra squad was completely unprofessional, they were not attentive, and they did not pay attention or seem to take my debriefing seriously at all. They showed no respect for me, or my rank and only wanted to leave; they did not care about the situation. They smoked and lounged in the room instead of sitting up right and focused" the Lieutenant commander said his tone raising some. The anger at what the officer had felt was an injustice to him.

"So you come barging in here complaining about my men, though you have been interrogating them since eleven hundred today. They at their morning chow and have not even been able to get showers or personal time that their fellows did to attend your debrief" Ack-Ack said as he sat down and went back to the paper work on his desk. The Lieutenant commander had pushed his buttons by chagrining into his office, complaining about battle weary soldiers who wanted nothing more right now than some r and r. He hated people who would complain about frontline men and women when they had never been there themselves.

"Sir, they need to be reprimanded for their behavior. It is very unbecoming of a spartan, not only that but even a marine" The Lieutenant commander said not realizing the mistake he had made by not leaving. Ack-Ack was on his feet and in the man's face before the ONI officer could even squeak.

"Atten-hut!" Ack-Ack thundered at the major who snapped to attention. Ack-Ack was not literally inches from the man's face. The Lieutenant commander could see every detail of the colonels aging face, the wrinkles, and scars and graying hair.

"You have no idea what it is to be a spartan, let alone a marine!" Ack-Ack roared "Do you?"

"Yes sir" the major said as he stared in to the face of a very irate, angered colonel who had gone back to being a DI at spartan training.

"Sound off like you got a pair that I and you both know you don't have!" Ack-Ack said.

"Yes sir!" the Lieutenant commander said.

"Really and why is that scum bag!" Ack-Ack yelled back.

"I am part of the UNSC military, sir" the major said not yelling causing him to dig his grave deeper still.

"Really, that is your reason?" Ack-Ack yelled "You have no fucking clue; you sit behind a desk while you force others to act out whatever hidden agendas you spooks. You never see your buddy get blown into enough pieces to make dog food, you have never been on the frontlines deprived of food, water, sleep and even the most basic of human needs, you have never had to fight for your life while others died around, you only fired a rifle when you attend OCS! You are one of those desk working ONI investigators who have no clue what combat is like. I checked your records and found that you have never done an investigation up until today and come in here as a rookie demanding I punish my men for not paying attention to some debriefing when they have barely began to recover from their time on the ground?" Ack-Ack yelled into the man's face causing the ONI officer to lean back some "Did I say you could move you are at attention!"

"Sir this is completely unnecessary"

"Did I say you could speak you filth maggot!" Ack-Ack yelled. By now there was an ensemble of marines, spartans and even some navy personal watching as the ONI officer was getting chewed out by the colonel.

"No, sir!"

"You make me sick; get the fuck out of my office now!" Ack-Ack yelled. The Officer looked at him funny for a second but ran when Ack-Ack yelled again.

"Any fucking time sweetheart!" Ack-Ack yelled causing the man to run out of the room and storm off down the hall as the enlisted and officer personal laughed at him.

May 19th 3232, 0234 SMT (local to Eden Prime)/ Kat Montgomery's Home in Jefferson:

Kat lay sound asleep in her bed, her head rested comfortable on her pillow as she dreamed of being able to see John. The last time they were on leave they had been at Eden Prime and her and John had spent everyday together, some alone some with the squad. She was hoping that she would be able to see him and saved enough money to see them and even bring along Miss Wells. The two often spent times together, watching the news and keeping each other to company as they prayed for the boys to be okay. Kat stirred in her sleep as a noise started up in the house. Her eyes opened slowly beginning to stay shut and sleep tried to keep its blissful grasp on the young women as she tried to wake up. She finally realized that the telecommunicator on her computer system was going off and she sat up from bed. She walked over to the chair mumbling about "who the fuck calls me at two in the god damn morning". She hit the answer button and was stunned to see John smiling back at her from the other side of the screen. She could see that he was in a one of the recreation rooms in a ship as far as she could tell. Kat's face was priceless as she beamed ear from ear suddenly wide awake as she looked into the eyes of her lover.

"John!" Kat yelled happily "How is it going?"

"Good, everything is still here and intact" john said as he slid his chair back and showed her that he was all fine. She laughed; John chuckled as well as he scouted back up to the table.

"Sorry, I know it's late but this is the only time I could find to call, Im sorry" John said sighing. The spartan was aware that she was sleeping; the yawn only confirmed his hypothesis.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa who is this pretty lady?" a spartan that Kat didn't recognize asked as he stuck his head into the cameras view. He looked very young, around twenty two. He had thick brown hair, a kind smile and blue eyes. Her eyes is what she noticed the most, despite the spartans upbeat, vibrant attitude that she figured was due to the bottle in his hand were not the same as his attitude. His eyes were hardened and cold, _like all the others after they got back from their first battle_ Kat thought.

"TJ what is going on?" a voice said that Kat would be able to recognize anywhere as Jason. The spartan rolled onto the screen, Kat smiled as she recognized the man. She had seen him since he lost the eye but everyone agreed not to tell Miss Wells just yet, she was a nervous wreck someday and telling her son lost an eye wouldn't help her relax. Kat tried to keep her comfortable and calm as possible due to the heart trouble that she was having.

"Kat" Jason said and rolled over to sit next to his brother "how you doing?"

"Good, I was sleeping but it seems that even my dreams are in danger of being raided" She said smiling at the spartans. The two chuckled at her pitiful attempt at a joke.

"Hey John, that your squeeze?" A spartan asked. Kat could see the brown haired, lighter skinned man on a table looking at the screen.

"Darrel get the fuck off the table" Carrero said in his drawn out speech as he stood barley visible in the screen "Hey Kat"

"Sup Carrero" Kat said smiling.

"All right give my brother some privacy come on guy's time for some pool" Jason said standing up and walked off screen. The other spartans followed and now Kat was left so that she could talk to her boyfriend in some more privacy.

"I didn't recognize TJ, He from another unit?" Kat asked him curiously.

"No, Nicole took a sniper round" John said down cast as he thought about the bright young girl who was an excellent spartan till some Turian sharpshooter decide it was her time.

"Oh, im sorry" Kat said looking down her smile fading a bit

"Thanks, but lets not talk about sad stuff" John said leaning foreword on the table that he had set his portable terminal on "So, how is life at home?"

Kat went on to talk about who the town had been following whatever news they could get on the squad and that they had even purposed changing the mascot of the high school to the spartans. John laughed at that and said to tell them not to. Kat talked about her new job as a nurse working with a clinic that a doctor had opened in the small town. The two talked for around forty minutes before John asked her about his mother.

"She is doing well, I make sure she is all right and keep her company when I can" Kat said "though calling her after this would not be so good"

"I imagine I would get a though talking to and grounded" John said smiling as he beamed at the women he loved. She laughed at the comment; John let her musical laughter fill his ears.

"Yeah, and probley lose your gas money to huh?"

"More than likely" John said chuckling.

"So, where are you guys putting into port next so I could come and visit while you are in port? I have enough money saved up for me and your mom to come" Kat said happily. John was speechless and fumbling for words but he finally just smiled at her.

"Turaxis Station, we are actually only like an hour out so we will be their soon" John said.

"All right well I need to get some rest" Kat said "Ill book the flight and let you know when we leave. If you call mama Wells don't tell her I want to surprise her"

"Ok" John said smiling and kissed his hand and pressed it to the screen. Kat did the same before saying.

"Goodnight John"

"Night My Angel"

May 20th 3232, 2134 SMT/ Turaxis station:

The squad walked up the street in Turaxis station. Today was the first day that leave had been authorized starting at 1800 and the spartans of sierra squad along with a host of marines, rangers and other spartans. The troops of the 9th MEF had thrown on their NWUs and were now out on the town with three things in mind, food, booze, and sex. Jason walked along next to Carrero on his right, His now healed left arm was draped around Angels shoulders as they walked down the street. Jason had a cigar in his mouth, a gleam on his face and a smile. Angel was beaming from under Jason's arm; Carrero bobbed his head to the music that was playing in his headphones. TJ walked along next to Carrero his pipe in his teeth as usual. John led the group with Cale in step next to him. The two snipers, Julie and Maria were staggering along using each other for support as they had already started on the drinking. The two bumped into a citizen who gave them a glare before walking off. Yazid walked next to Angel with Darrel next to him, the two were singing along with a song that was playing from one the bars.

"Hey how about this place?" John yelled pointing to a bar to the groups left. It was a regular looking bar, it hadn't been invaded yet so the spartans cheered and walked towards it. They walked up to the bar and started to order drinks and food. Time passed as more and more marines walked in filling the bar.

After thirty minutes the bar was full of spartans, rangers, and marines but they all claimed that title. The bartender in an attempt to express patriotism began to play a song known was the warrior song. The marines sang along with it loudly.

The marines all began to sing along with the music. The music blared through the speakers in the bar the men and women in the bar were yelling the lyrics out so loud that the bartender swore that the Turians on the citadel could here them.

Jason had been busy playing "tongue twister" as Carrero called it with Angle but looked up when he heard a voice that he would recognize even in the middle of a fire fight.

"Everyone listen up!" Ack-Ack yelled from on top of a table. The bar quieted down as the colonel spoke.

"First things first, Bartender bring me a triple shot of whiskey" Ack-Ack said "and a round of shots for ever devil dog in this bar on me!"

Jason cheered along with Angel, and every other man and women who wore the UNSCMC insignia. It took a few minutes for everyone to get a shot; no one drank it yet and waited on the colonel's order. Once everyone had a glass in hand Ack-Ack spoke again to the men in the bar.

"Raise your glass with me" Ack-Ack said somberly holding his glass up "Bow your heads and Pray with me"

The Marines in the bar all bowed their heads and closed their eyes with their glasses still raised in the air. Even those who were not religious and those who were not Christian all bowed their heads to pray to whatever higher power they answered to or out of respect.

"O God, we know you care about each of your children in this universe. We praise your loving kindness, your merciful grace. This day we lift to you our fallen brothers and sisters. So far from home and family, they did their best to serve with faithfulness and honor. Hold them tightly, Holy One. Give us courage to carry on as we endure harsh conditions, loneliness and great danger, let them know that we will carry on and not let their sacrifice be in vain. Help them feel your love, and comfort the families left behind. Also, we pray for the end of war. We pray for your strength, your wisdom and your reconciliation. That we may be at home, wrapped in our families, we seek your peace, here in our world, as in heaven. Creator, bless us all as we pray in your holy name. Amen." Ack-Ack spoke, the bar was silent as the marines listened to the prayer for their fallen comrades. Once he was down the entire bar downed their shots and looked up at the colonel.

"Now, bartender the first round of drinks on me!" Ack-Ack yelled.

"Hoorah!" the marines yelled loud enough that people in the streets turned to see where it came from.

May 21st 0045 SMT/ Turaxis station/ Jims tattoo parlor:

There was a large line that ran out of Jims shop that consisted of every spartan from E company. He had never gotten this much business and was happy, his profit would be in the thousands for the first night alone. He was busy working on a tattoo for one of the spartans. Like all the others men on the unit he was getting the image on his right arm, the women had been getting them on the right side of their upper back. The image was a snarling, jet black wolf, blood dripped from the canines mouth and its eyes were a bright red. Its front right paw rested on a pile of skulls that consisted of Turian, asari, brute and all the other hostile species. Above the wolf was a banner the read _Spartan E Company _with the unit nickname below it _The Black Wolves_. Under the wolf was the man's name and squad _Tony "TJ" Hamm Sierra Squad. _Another one of the mans squad mates was in the chair next to him, her black wolf as the image was becoming known as was finished but on her back the tattoo artiest was busy making small tally marks on the left side under a black silhouette of a sniper rifle. So far from what was inked in there were over two hundred and he could also see her name, Julie Ramos. Jim finished the image and leaned back in his seat.

"Nice, thanks for your service"

Tony smiled and stood up and walked from the parlor as the next spartan sat down

May 21st 3232, 0123 SMT/ UNSC Stealth ship _Mason_:

Ry sat in his room after another one of his horrifying nightmares that had been plaguing him ever since the mission on the Turian research station. He was staring into space, he was now deep in thought. He didn't even look up when the door opened and Eva walked in. She sat down next to Ry, The massive elite couldn't explain why they were growing closer together. She sat down on the bed next to the massive elite and leaned against his arm, Ry put an arm around her and pulled her in close.

"Another dream?' Eva asked breaking the silence between them. Ry nodded, he was still staring into space. Eva snuggled closer into the elite's chest.

"It had my mother in it again" Ry said "she was criticizing me this time for everything. Blaming me for what happened"

"Like what?" Eva asked him her voice distant as well.

"Its nothing to worry about ill tell you later" Ry said hugging the human women "it wasn't my mother that was the problem she has been in them before, it was you"

"Me?" Eva asked him leaning back and looking into the elites red eyes. He was famous for them, infamous would be the better term. Before he was assigned to the unit with Hudson and Eva he worked as an assassin and was his Co's personal grim reaper.

"Yes, the…things were surrounding you and I could get to you it was unnerving" Ry said somberly.

"Ry?"

"Yes Eva?"

"I want to let you know something" Eva said. Eva had never been one for feelings of any sort and what started out as playful infatuation turned into something else. It was obvious that they both had hard times in their past and when they were ready they would be willing to share them but for the moment they both were comfortable with this.

"I love you" Eva said. Ry looked at her in way that she couldn't read his expression.

"Im sorry I should go" Eva said standing and walking for the door but was stopped when a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Eva, don't go" Ry said.

**Please Review.**


	22. Illium

**Well, I got six reviews with the last chapter and now sixty favorites which is awesome. There is some action in this chapter towards the end of the chapter. Heads up this may be the last chapter that gets published before I have to go on my sea cadet training. As a side note, when I get back I will be going through MEPS for the marine core and be processed and of to boot camp next summer, Oorah. **

May 22nd 3232, 1431 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell_/ Cargo Hold 1:

The Spartans from E company stood in formation, twelve squads across and three squads deep. The company stood at ease, they could talk and move but they can not move their right foot. John was at the far left of the formation in the front row. Next to him stood his squad, they were talking about the leave time they had two days ago. They had not returned to the ship until six the next morning. The entire spartan company was standing in inspection worth NWUs, their uniforms were clean and their boots could be used as a mirror. The spartans now all had a uniform tattoo on their right arm or back depending on gender, the men's black wolves were half way visible under the rolled sleeves of their digital blue uniforms. They had assembled in the hanger for a briefing on new equipment plus the influx of new units into the 9th MEF.

"So, what new toys you think the egg heads over at Aberdeen came up with for use play with?" TJ asked Jason curiously.

"No clue, Im hoping for some new guns to kill the Turks with" Jason said grinning "besides it may be just some software upgrade for our armor, the only thing they have come out with recently are SW upgrades"

"If it's that why we in a hanger?" Carrero asked in his drawn out speech. Jason shrugged at the question as Ack-Ack walked in the front of the unit in his own pair of perfect NWUs.

"Black Wolves, Attention!" The colonel yelled causing the spartans to snap to attention "At ease!"

The spartans all now stood with their hands behind their back, eyes all still locked forewords despite the relaxed nature of the stance.

"Well, I like the uniform change that's for sure" Ack-Ack said causing the spartans to chuckle. The colonel's own black wolf tattoo stood out on his white skin.

"So today we have a few guest speakers" Ack-Ack said motioning with his hands for some one to come over to him. A few men and women walked over to him, the spartans hadn't seen them yet. There were five; two of them wore a pilot's jumpsuit while the others were in NWUs. Jason recognized the emblems on their uniforms except for the two in the jumpsuits. _No rank or name, spartan commando emblem what are they doing here? Electronics expert and a gunners mate, ammo and software for sure but what is with the other two and what is with that guys large ass case? _Jason thought to himself as he watched them. They were all carrying something save for the two in jumpsuits. The female spartan had a soft case on her back, the gunners mate had a backpack and the electrician was carried the large case that had caught Jason's attention. They stopped near the colonel who nodded to the spartan. The ONI spartan was short for a spartan, thought still eclipsed five foot eight, the average for a female spartan was around five eleven. She had short cut black hair and dark eyes. Her digital blue uniform was perfect in everyway and her gaze told the spartans that disrespect could mean death for the offender.

"Afternoon E company" she said standing with her arms behind her back in front of the spartans "I am here to brief you on the new MK2 Spartan rifle and the FA-6 machine gun. After this brief you will get a chance via the virtual simulation pods in the VP room"

The spartan had the machine gun in her soft case while the gunners mate was carrying the case hand to her. She placed it on the ground and straightened up.

"Lieutenant Ramos and Lieutenant Tolland front in center"

The two female snipers from Sierra squad stepped out and walked to the spartan. They stood at attention in front of her.

"Post up im an officer but no one here knows that" She said smiling as she referenced the classified nature of being a commando. The spartans chuckled at her weak joke. The two snipers gave her a salute that she returned before speaking again.

"You are the best sniper team in E company so as a reward I want you to open that case, assemble the rifle and then recite the creed because this baby is all yours now"

Julie and Maria's eyes lit up as the opened the case, after a minute the two stood facing the company at attention with Julie holding a massive rifle at order arms. The weapon was easily the longest rifle that Jason had ever seen.

"What LT Ramos is holding is the MK2 AS50 spartan rifle" the ONI spartan said grinning "this baby fires a 30mm round and is feed from a five round detachable box magazine as fast as you can pull the trigger. Its maximum range has yet to be tested but from personal testing I can tell you it will drop a Krogan at two miles and blow the Turks brains out behind him and that is using its standard firing mode, Lt may I" the spartan asked holding a hand out.

"Ma'am she is such a pretty gun" Julie said in with an obviously faked sadness to it.

"Im sorry to part you but ill have her back before nine"

The spartans cocked and eyebrow as TJ whispered into Carrero's ear "Dyke?" The ONI agent took the rifle and flipped the selector switch from safe to a setting that had a red line as a marker. A light on the receiver lit up as a powering up sound was heard.

"This is the first rifle to feature miniature MAC technology, making this weapon every snipers wet dream. The feature increase range by forty percent and velocity to the point we had to develop special ammunition to be used in the weapon"

The gunners mate stepped up and pulled a large round from a pack that he had on his back.

"This is the round that was made; the round is the most advance thing to ever be powered by gunpowder. This round is made of depleted uranium with a magnetically charged tungsten full Metal jacket. This is a purpose made anti-armor round that features a high explosive miniature plasma warhead, this round goes through a tank like a hot knife through butter"

By now almost every sniper in the company was near drooling from the new weapons. The ONI spartan took the soft case of her back and set it down before she moved on with the sniper rifle.

"This weapon will be given its combat début with E company, it is now being issued as an alternative to the M200" she said "you no what this kinda of awkward is it not?"

The spartan company looked around but sort of shrugged but the ONI spartan went.

"Alright for future reference call me Zoe"

"Aye ma'am" the spartans said.

"Good, now that we are down with that let me present you a weapon I know everyone will love" Zoe said as she un-zipped the case and pulled out a long barreled weapon. The gun had a long barrel that a bipod that was collapsible hung under the front of the barrel. A handgrip was near the end of the barrel as it came into the receiver. The weapon had large drum style magazine on it. From the top of the gun a carrying handle jutted up. The barrel was inline with the stock and the top of the receiver.

"This is a weapon from style from our past, this is the reentry of the squad automatic weapon into the UNSC" Zoe said as she picked up the weapon, it had a bit of weight to it as she cradled it a bit in her arms "this sucker is heavy" the spartans chuckled a bit. The ONI spartan held the weapon out the best way she could so that the spartans could see the weapon better. The spartans in the back all craned their necks a bit to see the large weapon.

"This is the Bianchi FA-6 LMG. The weapon fires the seven-point-six-two by fifty one millimeter plasma encased round at six hundred rounds a minute from a one hundred round drum magazine" Zoe said "the weapon is designed for area suppression. All fire teams are to use the VR pods to try the weapon out individually. After that we will begin the training with the weapon and implementing it. There will be one of these ones in every fire team. That's all I got, your training begins at 1700"

Zoe stepped back after she picked up the weapon as the two jumpsuit wearing marines stepped foreword. The two had badges in the MOS area on the uniform that Jason didn't recognize and both of them were second LTs.

"Good afternoon E company, I am LT London with the newly formed three o seventh battle armor core. I am the pilot of the new combat craft you are about to be briefed on"

"I am Lt Cantaberry and I am the weapons operator in the craft" Lt Cantaberry said nodding and an elevator that comes down from the hanger activated. The elevator dropped down revealing to the spartans the most bizarre vehicle they have ever seen. The craft was a bipedal walker. The legs were connected to a top turret that rotated on the base that the legs went to. Jason was shocked and leaned over to his brother.

"I thought battle walker tech had been all but abandoned?" Jason whispered to his brother.

"Guess it was a CYA situation that they didn't want the enemy to find out about it" John said as he started at the best of a machine. The battle walker stood around seventy feet tall, its massive legs were thick and its turret had visible weapons on it.

"This is the L-5 Riesig battle walker, this thing will be the ban of everything on the battlefield" Lt London said as he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb "it's hard to pilot at first so you guys can not take Ellie here for a spin"

"She has two eight missile pods that can be both anti-air and anti-tank that use the new M2012 bunker busters and M2011 bowmen missiles. The Walker also has two forty mike-mike launchers and two thirty millimeter six barreled Vulcan cannons"

The spartans looked up at the walked in awe, _these things are going to wreck the fuck out of the Turks_ TJ thought with a smile.

"Now, we can not go in to detail as most of the tech is classified but I will tell you that during your training in the VR pods you will be assisted by walkers piloted by the newest unit to the 9th MEF, the 307th Gravediggers" Lt Cantaberry said smiling.

"Welcome aboard, now the next briefing is on the software upgrade" Ack-Ack said causing the spartans to mentally groan.

May 22nd 3232, 1447 SMT/ UNSC _Mason_:

Hudson walked in to the science lab on the ship. He normally wouldn't come here but he had been summoned by doctor Sawako. The science lab was made up of three rooms, the large main lab room that had most of the test equipment. The second room was a sealed test room that had an airlock leading into the room. The third was Sawako's quarters where she would sleep and often she would bee in the lab al day working diligently. Hudson walked over to the tank that held the strange double pyramid shaped thing that they had found on the Turian station almost a year ago. The strange device had caused Ry to suffer nightmares almost every night,_ I hope that this pyramid thing wont be the death of that guy, one of the best soldiers I have ever meet_ Hudson thought as he looked at the device. Sawako walked out of her quarters and over to Hudson. The spartan looked over his shoulder to see who it was.

"So, what have been able to find?" Hudson asked her curiously.

"Well, for one the pyramid is sentient to a point and it was created by the Turians" Sawako began as she looked it over as it floated in the tank.

"Sentient, are you telling me this is a rock can think?" Hudson asked doubtfully as he crossed his arms.

"Yes, but this is so much more than a rock. It creates the virus, if I were to open that tank to the open air right now on this ship the amount of the Necron virus that is in their would make every dead skin cell, fingernail clipping etc to reanimate and twist to the pyramids design. It serves as a hive mind for the necromorphs when they are created" Sawako said smiling with herself.

"So what is happening with Ry?" Hudson asked her.

"When the thing was hit on the ground a wave was sent out that sent a large amount of the virus, thankfully for Ry he was far enough away and due to his psychical structure, his Sangheili DNA and other biological factors make him more resistant. He is infected and the pyramid is using the virus in his body to give him horrid dreams in attempt to make him commit suicide" Sawako said sadly "when Ry dies he will become one of the necromorphs"

"Great so he takes a sniper bullet and then reanimates into a freaky dead thing and I have to kill it" Hudson said angry with the situation "is there anyway you can help him out with this?"

"I need him to work with me but I will find a cure for him" Sawako said as her dog walked over to her and she petted his head "Also this is interesting, from what I can tell this virus was intended to be begin but only with a certain DNA structure and more than likely some other chemicals. It was made to work with a quad-strand DNA structure"

"That's interesting but I need to go and meet with Veronica and Trexo" Hudson said as he walked from the science lab "ill see you later Sawako"

Hudson headed down the hall of the ship towards the briefing room where they were meeting. A few days earlier they had hacked into a communication buoy and had got a hold of Trexo's specter friend Senryn. She had used her connections to get them information on Doctor Havno Solus. They were now planning on meeting her at illium and had developed a plan of action because they knew that she may be being watched.

Hudson walked in to the room and took a seat next to Trexo. The rest of the team all trickled in and when everyone arrived the plan was reviled to them.

"Alright im going to keep this short and sweet" Veronica said "We are meeting our contact on Illium in the Nos Astra spaceport in the Eternity night club"

"Ma'am why the night club?" Thenvel asked her rising what passed as an elites eyebrows.

"With the amount of noise in a nightclub we will be hard to over here" Trexo said "plus with the large open balcony and a building a mile away that has a perfect view of the club we can have sniper cover"

"You expect something to go wrong?" Eva asked the Turian.

"I always expect something to go wrong" Trexo said flatly.

"Trexo is right which is why we picked up confiscated Asari armor and helmets, our technicians have outfitted them specifically for this operation. They have been equipped with UNSC shield technology, and scaled up to fit Arianna and Eva" Veronica said "You two are going to be doing escort, while Thenvel and Ry are going to be standing by inside a air car that Trexo will procure for us when we arrive. You two will install the portable shield on the care and are serving as the extraction. Trexo are there air cars that can hold five?"

"Yes ma'am" Trexo says nodding "fast ones to"

"Now, Hudson along with the remaining spartans is going to provide sniper support" Veronica said "we are going to use the cloaking capabilities of our ship and set up a base in an area that is not trafficked by the locals in vehicles. Dismissed we arrive at Illium in four hours"

May 22nd 3232, 1834 SMT/ Citadel/ Trevnor's office in the council towers:

Trevnor sat in his office looking over paper work but was running on autopilot as he signed this, stamped that, and tossed this. His communicator rang on his terminal and he answered to see Nithlo's face appear on the screen.

"Nithlo, how is the war going?" Trevnor asked with a smile. He didn't pay attention to news and as far as strategy goes he had the skill of a slug.

"The truth is that it is going horrid, they pushed us off of heaven and we are losing as they invade more of our worlds and many ships have been trapped by the UNSC blockading relays to catch our ships. In space with the improved shield technology we are able to hold out for longer but the battles are still near fruitless. Our covenant allies are religious zealots that use slave soldiers and have problems with rebellion. We have reports that the covenant rebels have made contact with the UNSC and her allies. If we lose them than this war is over before the end of the year, Trevnor we should cancel everything and cut our losses now" Nithlo said sadly "this war is lost and from what we can gather intelligence wise, they are only deploying one fourth their force. The rest is are reserves, if fully mobilize this war will be over in months"

"Look, you said you could win this war" Trevnor said pointing a finger accusingly "I don't like being let down now you better turn this around or I will find another who can"

"Sir, this war is going to" Nithlo said before being cutoff.

"I don't care, you win this war or so help me" Trevnor growled at his most trusted general "Now I am going to send ambassadors to the Krogan and see if we can get them to unite and fight for us"

"That may help" Nithlo said.

"Also I am authorizing the first field test of the Necron virus bomb" Trevnor said before drinking from a glass of water "I have a spec war ship taking the bomb to a listening post in UNSC space, once it is down you can use the break in their monitoring to slip on through"

"Yes sir"

"Dismissed general" Trevnor said waving the general off.

May 22nd 3232, 1951 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell_:

The VR training had only taken the company an hour to find those who go to be the forty eight squad automatic gunners in the black wolves. For sierra squad the first choice was actually rather easy, the only thing that TJ from licking the gun was his helmet and the fact that it was not real. TJ was now the gunner in Jason's fire team; he was busy checking over his new weapon and busy changing out the pouches and other parts on his armor to accommodate the new armor along with the machine gunner for John's fire team, Yazid. Jason and John were going to pick Kat and their mother from the space port, their flight was arriving at 2100 and they wanted to meet them there at the gate. They both were dressed for the occasion in their dress blue uniforms, medals and awards clanked and glimmered on their chest as they walked. John and Jason had gotten permission from Ack-Ack to go and pick their family up and permission to go early due to the mission that John was on and had yet to tell Jason about.

"John, why are we going into a jewelry shop?" Jason asked incredulously "let's go hit up some food while we wait"

"I have to get something for Kat" John said smiling. Jason at first his brother thought that he was talking a necklace but he suddenly understood exactly why they were here.

"No fucking way" Jason said happily his smile wide. John grinned as they walked into the jewelry store. The place was quiet, not many people were in the shop but those who were turned to see who had walked in. The goods were soared in glass display cases that had a light tan interior and lights in the cases made the jewels light up and shimmer. Jason and John removed their covers and walked over one of the cases and started to look in the cases.

"So do you know what she likes?" Jason asked his brother as they browsed the rings for sale. John nodded as his eyes scanned the rings looking for the perfect one to get Kat.

"Yeah, she has a thing for dolphins" John said "she always wanted to go to earth to swim with the dolphins"

"Really, that would make quite the honey moon" Jason said standing up as the attendant walked over to them.

"Good evening gentle men, my name are Charles. So how can I be of assistance?"

"My brother here is looking for an engagement ring" Jason said. John was still looking till his eyes settled on one of the rings inside the case.

"That one right there" John said as he pointed to a ring. Charles looked at the ring and pulled a key from inside his suit's coat. He opened the case and pulled the ring out so they could see it. Jason looked it over; the ring was silver with a bright blue sapphire set in it with two dolphins jumping from water over the jewel.

"Ah, fine choice sir" Charles said as he showed it to him.

"It's perfect" John said and looked at the price and grimaced a bit. He reached for his wallet but Charles held a hand up.

"Sir, you fight to protect me and my family" Charles said closing the ring and holding it out "Consider this a thank you from me, my family and my business"

"Thank you "John said looking at the ring before pocketing the ring in its black velvet case. John held a hand out to the attendant, after a firm hand shake the two spartan brothers walked from the store and back to the street.

"Well, that was nice of him" Jason said happily "come on lets go pick mom and Kat up"

John, nodded he was still thinking about the man who had just gave him a very expensive ring because he served. Jason hailed a taxi and opened the door for his brother.

"Come on Romeo, time to go meet Juliet" Jason said grinning causing his brother to laugh as they got in the car and drove off for the spaceport.

"Shake sphere reference?" John asked his brother eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, just because I am a badass mother fucker doesn't mean im uneducated" Jason said. John just chuckled a bit at the comment.

"Besides JP drilled that shit into our brain for a year" Jason said reminiscently. John smiled before speaking and the two brothers started to talk about the good old days where they were teenagers who were always competing with each other at everything from speed to women and drinking. The days when they were not head for the spartan academy but collage on football scholarships. John wanted to become a teacher and coach while Jason wanted to be a police officer in their home town after he graduated. The two talked and laughed about the parties and how they had to dig their friend Mike out of trouble almost every weekend. The two reached the gate and stood waiting for the two women to arrive.

"Jason, you need to know mom doesn't know about your eye" John told his brother. Jason's smile faded as he thought about what this could mean. Jason didn't resemble his twin as well as they use to, his left eye was covered by a patch and that side of his face bore a few small scares and one very large on that ran the length of his face through his left eye at an angle.

"Ok" Jason said flatly. The worker behind the terminals desk opened the door to let the new arrivals into the port. The two spartans stood up as people started to walk through the door; they watched for Kat and their mother but didn't see them. As the stream trickled down they saw them. Kat was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a sweater shirt. Miss Wells was wearing a floral dress and walked with a cane due to the hip problem she was having in her right hip joint. Despite this she walked with all the grace and pride she could muster as she headed right for her boys, her bag was in a flight attendants hand. Kat had her carryon lounge in a backpack; she was helping the elderly women up the ramp along with the flight attendant. Kat saw John and her eyes lit up, Miss Wells gave her a smile and the girl ran foreword to meet John. John caught her and spun her around as she laughed. John set her down and the two embraced in the kind of kiss that only lovers who have been separated for weeks can. Miss Wells reached her boys Jason had kept his good side of his face towards the mother but now he had to face her. The old women gasped as she saw her son's disfigured face and the patch over his left eye. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she embraced her son in a tight hug.

"My poor boy" she said trying not to cry.

"Im fine mom, god saw fit to give me a spare" Jason said hugging his mom. John hugged his mother and the four walked towards the end of the terminal. John had Kat under his arm and Jason carried his mother's luggage as they walked. Many of the people in the terminal clapped as they walked from the space port.

May 23rd 3232, 0123 SMT (2200 Local Time)/ Illium/ Nos Astra:

Trexo ware loose fitting clothes to conceal the nanosuit that he had been given when he joined the team, the techs had made it for him and the armor had served him very well. He unfortunately could not carry anything to noticeable so he had grabbed a needler that was stashed in a pack on his back while a needle pistol sat in a holster on his leg that was concealed underneath the long jacket he was wearing. Trexo walked into the club flanked by Eva and Arianna who both had undergone a disguise process where using make up, _make up of all things _Trexo thought as he looked at them. They both now had the completion of an asari, blue skin but no facial markings. The now had the skin folds of an asari their hairs length had been preserved through some Hollywood magic. They wore the armor that had been made for them and Trexo's clothes were that of a business man but loose. He appeared to those around be a Turian business man or politician that like comfort and wore warm jackets and had two body guards. The two had been able to use a UNSC program called flash training, something only ONI used, to implant the information of the asari language in their minds in little more than ten minutes. The technology was based on the tech they used to make their AI and the result was the two now fluently spoke asari. Trexo and the two disguised spartans walked to the bar. The bartender was busy cleaning a glass and gave them a nod as Trexo leaned against the counter waiting for Senryn to arrive. The two spartans had taken up positions on either side of him and had their m8 avenger rifles drawn. The weapons were functioning but once they were engaged the spartans would pull the UNSC SMGs out from under the jackets they were wearing.

"Hudson we are in position for the meet do you have eyes on?" Eva asked as she put her hand to her ear activating the communicator there. The people thought nothing of it, just a guard radioing in was the perception that they had got.

"Yes, I have you in my scope now" Hudson said unaware of the others who were also watching the three.

Garrus sat in a booth watching one of the asari dancers with a group of other Turians. The Turian solider had left the service and was now part of C-Sec. The group had been tracking a specter named Senryn under the orders of Trevnor who suspected her of treachery. The officers new that she was meeting with some one here by monitoring her communications and had been stacking the position out since the morning. He looked over at the Turian who had walked in a few minutes ago, something about him seemed familiar but Garrus couldn't place it. The two asari guards he had were quite tall for the race and he could tell that they were battle hardened as they watched the area with the same gaze a as a sniper. The long Jackets they wore over their armor was more than likely to conceal more weapons save for the rifles that they had in their hands.

"Hey, Tavlin" Garrus said "Those three at the bar, something seems off about them"

"What do you mean?" Tavlin said from next to him.

"Those asari are not mercs I can tell you that, or if they are those are the best damn looking Mercs I have ever seen" Garrus said as he studied them. One noticed him staring and whispered something to the other. The one on the right who hadn't noticed put her hand up to a communicator in her ear. Garrus looked away but typed a message in to his Omni tool and sent it to the people they had stationed in the security room. _Focus on the three at the bar, they seem suspicious and that Turian may be Trexo. _C-Sec had the club staked out fairly well, a special tactics team waited in the storage room with a door that lead into the club, Garrus, Tavlin and four other Turians were in the club itself. Some of the asari dancers were disguised officers waiting for the go signal. They all had on shields and SMGs lay with arms reach, either on their seats or hidden next to them. The door of the club opened and an asari walked in wearing dark blue armor. A host of weapons were strapped to her and she walked with confidence. Senryn had arrived and walked towards the Turian at the bar. Garrus listened in as the people in the monitoring room relayed the video to the officers.

"Look, I can not give you the information right now" Senryn said quickly "this place is wired and filled with C-Sec"

_Great, they know_ Garrus said to himself.

"Where?" the Turian asked as he looked around the club.

"That booth to your right with the dancer, everyone in there is a C-sec" Senryn said quietly "the three turian's at the table with the two asari are as well and they have a ST team inside the storage room to the left of the bar"

"How did you find this out?"

"I have a few friends that owe me and they work here so they tipped me off" Senryn said.

"Right, Eva radio this in"

"All sniper teams, hostiles in the booth to our right in the corner and the table by the door, all targets there are hostile" Eva said "Ry exfil in thirty, wait for them to make the first move"

Garrus eyes got wide as he realized what the one guard just said.

"All teams prepare to move, set shields to max" the mission director said over the comms. Garrus watched the four as he turned his shields power up but the glint of a weapon he would recognize but the others would not caught his eye, a human SMG was visible from under one of the asari's jackets and suddenly the realization hit him.

"Sir, call it off now" Garrus said over the comms.

"No, we have to move now. All teams go"

The group of officers at the table stood drawing their SMGs; those in the booth did the same save for Garrus. The Turian war vet dived across the table and tackled the asari officer into the ground. It was serial as four of the officers were suddenly drilled by what Garrus new was the humans largest sniper rifle, he could tell from the force that they hit his comrades with.

Trexo glanced over and saw the officers stand up but four of them dropped right away as their upper bodies exploded from the 30mm round that the spartan sniper had sent down range. Trexo drew his needle pistol and started to fire it towards the remaining officers by the door. The storage room door opened but Eva and Arianna had primed a grenade and tossed it into the room. The explosion killed two of the officers that were in the room. Trexo moved towards the balcony firing his weapon as fast as he could. Eva, Arianna and Senryn suppressed the C-Sec officers who were still alive with volumes of fire. The snipers shots continued to hit home as the massive round smashed through the seats and metal wall of the booth. People screamed and ran, some of the civilians were hit in the cross fire. Trexo took cover and pulled the needler from its briefcase and started to suppress the officer's positions. Ry and Thenvel piloted the air car the edge of the balcony expertly and opened the hatch.

"Get in!" Thenvel yelled and the four rushed into the car and the hatch closed.

Garrus looked up after the car left and saw many of his fellow officers were dead or wounded. The asari officer was unharmed thankfully. Garrus called in to his superior.

"We have multiple officers down" Garrus said "get some medics up here!"

Garrus stood up and ran over to another Turian and started to give first aid with the medical kit he had on his back. Garrus's mind was drifting back to the war and he could feel the PTSD trying to take a hold of him but he fought it off as he did his best to save the Turians life.

Trexo could here sirens as the Nos Astra police cruisers started to give chase. The police cruisers were equipped with weapons and if they got in range they would be able to hack the car the five ONI operative were sitting now. Trexo thought quickly before grabbing a weapon that they had brought in the car just in case.

"Ry give me your sword" Trexo said "I have and idea"

"Ok, I want it back though" Ry said handing the small grip back. Trexo pointed it so the blades would go up when he activated it and turned the weapons on. The plasma blades sprang to life and the Turian stabbed it into the glass roof and began to cut a hole.

"What are you doing?" Thenvel asked right before a large glass piece flew off the car. The hole was cut from the edge of the canopy and went three feet out.

"Turret" Trexo replied flatly and grabbed the FA-6 and stuck it out the roofs hole. He dropped the bipod which gripped the cars metal surface due to the magnets in the feet. Trexo racked the bolt back and took aim as a host of police cruisers came around the corner. Trexo took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger, the first police cruiser swerved out of the way as the Turian began to fire bursts of 7.62 PER ammunition at the unarmored cars.

"Hang on!" Ry yelled to the group. Trexo braced himself in place with his feet as the car banked up and around the corner, the police cruisers firing their guns when they could. The rounds bounced of the shields that they had on the car. Trexo fired a solid burst in to one of the pursing vehicles causing it to explode as the rounds smashed into the engine. The operative's car swerved to avoid a heat seeker that was fired from another cruiser.

"Mag!" Trexo yelled as he pulled the drum magazine from the gun. Trexo slammed the new magazine home and smacked the bolt release causing the bolt to rocket foreword. The weapon roared to life again as more cruisers gave chase, Trexo fired short bursts at the pursuing craft making sure he did his best to not hit civilians. Ry piloted the car around a cargo truck causing the driver to honk.

"Veronica, we are being pursued and need some immediate exfil now!" Ry yelled through his communicator.

"Understood, we are moving to you" Veronica said "the sniper teams have already bored, ETA is two minutes. You will need to go up"

"Roger that!" Ry said and pulled the controls back on the car. The craft went vertical and Trexo quickly braced himself and continued to fire the weapon. Above them were two cargo space craft that were moving over each other and were closing the space between them. Ry twisted the craft and slipped between the spaces as it closed up. The car leveled out and zoomed foreword. The police vehicles were still giving chase as the craft speed on, the police guns blazing. Trexo fired back trying to keep many of the police form getting close. Ry twisted the craft but to no avail as heat seeking missiles from the police cruisers came soaring in and exploded. The shields on the car dropped with a flash, Trexo made sure to drop down behind gun to take cover as more hostiles dropped in behind the craft spraying the guns. A scream of pain drew the Turians attention and saw Senryn bleeding, her purple blood pooling in her seat. The spartans sprang to action, quickly applying bandages and antiseptic to the wound.

"Veronica we got wound get here now!" Ry yelled "out shields have dropped and we are taking fire!"

"Hang on to your horses could damn it!" Veronica yelled back "we are here, im opening the side hanger hatch!"

Trexo looked to his right as a massive shape materialized next to them. The UNSC ship appeared next to them and dwarfed the cargo ships below it, a hanger hatch on its side opened and Ry banged the air car into the open hatch. Gunfire followed them smashing into the engine and the car skidded across the floor sending up sparks. Before slamming into the wall sending the five people inside in to the side of the cars cab.

"We need to get out of here now!" Eva said and kicked the glass sending the shards of the window into the hanger. The first spartan stepped out as Ry kicked the front of the windshield out. Ry jumped out followed by Thenvel, the two elites ran over to the side of the car as Senryn was being helped out as she coughed up blood, by Trexo.

"Medic!" Ry yelled as some of the navy personal came running in and helping the five people. Once they had Senryn out they got away from the flaming wreck as the fire suppression system began to fire up and started to pour water on the fire. Trexo carried Senryn as fast as he could to the medical deck and set her on the rack as the doctors came over and set to work.

"Come on Senryn you got this" Trexo said encouragingly as he held her hand with a look of great concern on his face as the UNSC ship jumped into slip space. The massive shock wave wrecked the tops of many buildings.

**Please review.**


	23. She don't want the world

**Well, let me apologize for such a long wait. I have no excuses what so ever as to why. On a positive note here is the next chapter! **

**Oh, since Eva was and still is the favorite character (poll still open so all you knew readers can vote as well, which I would really appreciate), this chapters has a large part focusing on her past. (Not for the faint of heart).**

May 24th 3232, 0345 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Mason_:

Trexo sat in a seat by the entrance the surgery station onboard the frigate waiting to hear if Senryn was going to pull through. The door to the bay opened and one of the ships medics walked out and put a hand on the Turian's shoulder causing him to look up.

"She is awake and will recover, surprisingly asari and human biology match on every category save for nervous system" the medic said "you may go see her if you wish"

Trexo gave the medic a small smile and walked into the room to see the purple asari in a hospital bed, IVs ran into her arm. She gave him a weak smile as he walked up to her.

"Thank you" she said weakly.

"For what?" Trexo asked confused.

"Saving me" She said. Trexo nodded before looking into her eyes.

"It was my duty, I was not going to let you burn in that wreck" Trexo said.

"You Turians and your sense of duty, wish I had that same character" Senryn said sighing.

Trexo didn't say anything and but looked away.

"Im glad you're a Turian, any others would let me burn after what happened between me and you" Senryn said trying to lighten the mood. Trexo scoffed at her bad attempt at humor.

"Trexo, don't be like that" Senryn said "that was years ago, it's the past"

"A year is different for me than it is for you" Trexo said angrily glaring at her. The asari seemed to shrink back into the bed.

"Still can not forgive me? Come on Trexo I was just a young median" Senryn said pleading.

"Now is not the time to discuss this, now get some rest Senryn" Trexo said standing and walking from the room. Senryn sank into the bed and sighed, _stupid girl he won't ever forgive you for what happened_. The asari closed her eyes and felt the tug of sleep and let her self fall into the blissful realm.

May 27th 3232, 1345 SMT (1:45 Local citadel time):

Garrus stood at attention in his C-Sec uniform as executor Palin walked back and forth in front of him. Garrus knew that the council was more than just a little pissed at the events on illium, _Hell when that ship jumped the thing leveled a square half mile of buildings upper floors, the death toll is far to high_.

"Garrus, this is an absolute mess" Palin said sighing as he stopped and shook his head "We had known idea that Trexo and Senryn both have gone turn coat. Thanks to them and some others who we are still trying to bring to justice" the Turian sighed "I don't even know, the public demands justice but C-Sec is not equipped to handle this alone, and I don't trust specters with this, they can be over zealous"

"Sir, that is more than likely the route the council will take" Garrus said flatly, he winced as his jaw hurt from a grazing shot he hadn't noticed until after the adrenaline had stopped flowing.

"I know which is why I am making a proposal, a joint operation between C-Sec's finest and the specters to ensure this is done smoothly, im putting you in charge if it passes"

"I Will do my best sir" Garrus replayed with enthusiasm, Palin nodded and turned and looked out at his office window into space.

"Sir, do we have a report from illium" Garrus asked. Executor Palin remained staring into space, he seemed to not have heard Garrus.

"Sir?" Garrus said a little bit concerned about his superior. The Illium tragedy as the media had started to call it was the worst C-Sec blunder in centuries according to the media.

"No, they are still counting the dead civilians" Palin said "and we lost every officer in that bar save for you and four others" Executor Palin said "I don't know any more, this galaxy never gets any brighter"

"Sadly true sir" Garrus said shaking his head.

"Garrus, I have fought in small skirmishes with pirates, mercenaries and criminals" Palin said "my grandfather would tell me stories of my descendents fighting bravely in the Krogan rebellions. We have stood up to two races that nearly drove us to extinction and then this new menace has done more damage in the first few months of this war then either of those races did" Palin faced the Turian officer, his eyes were not their usual hardened black but showed something that Garrus would never expect, fear "Garrus, you have fought them, tell me" Palin asked "Can we win this war, and don't give me some sugarcoated bullshit"

Garrus stood in one spot for a solid five minutes before looking at Palin and shaking his head.

"I don't know"

May 27th 3232 1350 SMT/ Turaxis Station/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell_:

John examined the galaxy map in the briefing room as the spartan company waited for Ack-Ack to start. Jason sat next to him; his brother was busy holding his head. Jason had gone out with a large group of spartans the night before and it was easy to see who as those who were sharing in Jason's miserable hangover were groaning, or passed out with their heads resting on the tables. John chuckled as he looked down at his hand, a gold band sat in his ring finger. The night before he had asked Kat to marry him and she had answered him with the biggest kiss right in front of one of the news crews who were busy walking around interviewing service personal. Jason let out a groan as a door opened up causing light to flood the room as the Spartans leader walked in.

"The morning after sucks doesn't it" John said shaking his head "just like high school"

"Yeah, except you weren't holding the bucket" Jason growled as he sat up in his chair. The patch that covered his eyes was off center and the spartans hair was a mess. John laughed out loud causing the colonel to take notice of Jason.

"Well, Major Jason, it seems that you have made quite the amazing recovery" Ack-Ack said smiling.

"Huh?" Jason asked "I feel like shit"

"Well, you should do well to remember not to try to drink your Irish CO under the table" Ack-Ack said jokingly "but it seems that your eyes are better"

Jason raised an eyebrow before pulling out his cell phone and looking at his face in the screens reflection; someone had moved his eye patch and drawn a cartoon eye on the scar tissue that covered the hole where his eye should be. The drawn eye was looking off in a completely different direction and was bloodshot red. Jason moved the patch over the marker and then whipped his phone at Carrero who was busy trying not to piss himself laughing at his squad mate.

"You son of a bitch!" Jason said as he tossed the phone which nailed the hysterical Carrero where the son doesn't shine causing him to double over. By now the entire unit was busting out in laughter. Ack-Ack had used the cameras in the room to take a picture and put it up on the screen for everyone to see.

"Okay, that was funny now to business" Ack-Ack said smiling a bit. The spartans stopped laughing, though a few still chuckled a bit.

"First things first, everyone congratulate Major John on his engagement" Ack-Ack said happily. The unit gave John a minute of applause before Ack-Ack spoke again.

"Okay now the serious stuff" Ack-Ack said as he pulled up a galactic map. The map was divided into sections with colors marking territory. Blue signaled UNSC, Red union and purple was both. Orange marked the covenants territory and green for the Citadel. Uncharted areas remained black.

"Now, thanks to ONI's efforts we have been able to gain the coordinates of every covvie world. We also know that they are in a state of civil unrest and a group of brutes who started calling themselves the Helghan are a group of rebels who did start a civil war but were put down. Now, however they have come to us asking for our assistance and we shall lend it" Ack-Ack said and manipulated the map till it showed a cluster of worlds deep in covvie territory "We also know that they maintain a strong central core area and that the rest of the area under their control is nothing more than oppressed colonies and barren space. The have a belt of worlds that serve as a defensive line but it is clear that arrogance is a strong suite for them. Thanks to the rebels who ONI extracted we will be able to strike the covvies hard and where it hurts the most. As we speak the Union is busy breaking down the belt of covvie defense opening up for the main force" Ack-Ack said hitting a few keys on the screens controls that sat in a podium at the front of the briefing room. the screens activated on the spartans tables in front of them and the Squad leaders TAC-pads began to download the mission data.

"As you all know the UNSC military is fully mobilized, all reserve units are active and reinforcement units are standing by to fill in where needed. The main force that is going in is the largest Mass Fleet ever assembled" Ack-Ack said "MEF's one through twelve are taking part in this assault along with ten Union battle groups, gentlemen we are privileged as the third, fifth, seventh, ninth and tenth MEF's are assaulting the capitol world along with three union battle groups" Ack-Ack said "the other worlds are being assigned units as we speak. We are only the first wave; the second wave is MEF's thirteen through twenty and eight union battle groups"

Johns jaw dropped as he realized just how many forces were being deployed into one area. A single MEF was a force to be reckoned with; it was the largest unit size beside Force, which meant everyone.

"Now, spartan E company will be landing groundside, via drop pod along with the 101st, 82nd and 4th ODST. We will be establishing the foreword beach head on the edge of the largest city on Helghast, seems that after the civil war the covenant higher ups added insult to injury by making this hell hole the capitol. Its only resources are its mines, and the population consists of former rebels and their descendents serving as slaves in the mines or in the military which is who we encountered on heaven as the help cover the citadels Exfil" Ack-Ack said "Once we have established an LZ we are going to receive reinforcements from five marine companies and the Gravediggers and push to our next objective" Ack-Ack started as he began to explain the battle plan.

May 27th 3232, 1832 SMT UNSC frigate Mason:

Eva sat in the mess hall busy playing with a deck of cards; her card house was not standing up causing her to sigh. Eva pulled a chain from around her neck and looked at the charm at the end of the necklace, a plain cross. The necklace was all she had from the mother she never knew; the religious medallion didn't have any meaning besides her mother to her. She was so deep in thought that she did not hear Ry come in and wake over to her. The elite sat down across from her as she studied the necklace, her blue eyes stared at it as if she was looking at a master work of art.

"I didn't take you for the religious type Eva" Ry said curiously.

"Im not, not at all" Eva said "fuck the church"

"Oh, then why do you wear that cross?" Ry asked her curiously.

"Because it is all I have of my mother" Eva said putting it away and looking at the elite.

"Then she is dead, I am sorry" Ry said "my own mother has passed on as well"

"Well, that's the thing mine my still be out there but I doubt she knows of me" Eva said "Wouldn't want to meet her anyway, the bitch" Eva said angrily, she my not have known here mother but she hated her. The cross was just a reminder that she was not just sprung form nothing.

"How can you judge her if you never meet her?" Ry asked her, he knew next to nothing of the human women who had stolen his hearts past.

"Because I grew up in a church sponsored orphanage, they found me in a cardboard box behind a dumpster in downtown Hexvor" Eva growled "what sort of mother leaves a baby in a box with nothing behind a fucking dumpster"

"I am sure she had her reasons" Ry said Eva glared up at him for a second, the look of anger he got was so unlike her.

"Reasons? Like what? I was some unwanted baby for a one night mistake? I hate her! She is the reason that I was never a normal kid, fuck if it wasn't for Carver I wouldn't fucking be hear, I would be dead in a fucking ditch. Fuck her and Fuck the church!"

Ry recoiled form the barrage of cursing by now Eva was standing up and had her hands balled into fists.

"Im sorry, I shouldn't take out my anger on you" Eva said "you mean more than that to me, im sorry"

"Its is perfectly fine" Ry said "I just wasn't expecting that"

"Yeah, well my past is not exactly a very comfortable subject for me" Eva said sitting down "I hate every minute of it"

"Eva?" Ry said as he brushed a finger along her cheek whipping a tear away "we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to"

"That's not my name" Eva said flatly "It's only what ONI gave me for a name since I became a spartan, they fast tracked to becoming a commando. My name is November Raynor"

18 years ago…

November "Nova" Raynor lay in her bed inside the orphanage; she sat up in her bed and stretched. She looked around her small room. The flowery wallpaper was browned and peeling of the walls. The room was the size of a shipping container because that was after all what it used to be before the orphanage had bought it along with many others to add another wing the building, the orphanage was deep in the slums of the city on Ojum on Hexvor. Nova smiled as she remembered that today was her birthday, and the mothers who ran the place for the church would have a nice present for her, _maybe a new sweatshirt the one I have now is getting small_. Nova stretched and kicked the covers off and walked over to the dusty mirror that he had taped the wall and examined her face. Her Blondie hair was covered in dirty and starting to get matted, her face had some smudges on it. She stepped back and examined her body, her ribs were visible and she realized how thin she was. _I guess that what happens when you get soup for breakfast and dinner_. Her sleep clothes were also here underwear, well what she was able to use. Her lower region was covered by a pair of yoga pants cut to fit and her chest was just wrapped in fabric strips that were getting dirty. Her body had dirt and filth smudges on it, _two more days and then we can shower again_. Nova's blue eyes seemed happy despite her horrid conditions; after all it was all she had ever known. The young fourteen year old girl grabbed a pair of jeans of the floor of her shipping container room and gave them a quick smell. They wrecked but her other pair was worse so she pulled the jeans on her foot getting caught in the massive hole in the thigh part of the jeans. She sighed and fixed the problem and got the jeans on. She buckled the worn leather belt and tied a bandana over the hole to cover some of her skin at least. She grabbed her blue hoodie and pulled it on and opened the door to her room, the massive metal door swung open. She closed it behind her as she stepped into the hallway. The floor was nothing more than layers of wood and sheet metal covered in musty carpet. The rough was plywood and she could hear the rain on it clear as day. She had found that by putting newspaper in blankets she scavenged and nailing them to the ceiling muffled the sound so she could sleep. Nova skipped down the hall to the large front room that served as the mess hall. Nova grabbed a bowl of the warm soup and began to eat it quickly as other kids trickled in. Nova watched as one of the mothers walked over to her with a box.

"Good morning nova"

"Morning mother Hanna" Nova said smiling at her with her slightly yellowed teeth.

"Happy birthday dear, I have some thing for you" Hanna said and handed her the box. Nova tore it open and her eyes lit up. Hanna smiled at her, the mothers state was not much better than the young girls. The orphanage had lost founding form the church because the clergy felt that the funds would be better spent on expanding the churches reach in the colonies. Nova happily pulled a bright new, light blue hoodie out of the box. The Hoodie was clean, and smelled fresh. Inside the box was also a small cross necklace and a token for the showers. Nova pulled out the necklace and looked at it curiously. It didn't look like the crosses that the mothers wore.

"This belonged to your mother, she left it with you and I felt that you should have it" Hanna said "you are old enough to understand it"

"Thank you I will cherish it for it forever!" Nova said as she put the necklace on. She smiled up at the nun.

"Now don't you have a job at the laundry matt to get to" Hanna said.

"Oh yes! If I am early I could wash my clothes before the customers show up!' Nova said and skipped out from the building.

"That poor girl, god bless you child"

Two years later

Nova sat on the steps of a store in a light blue sweat shirt and a worn pair of jeans. Her muddy leather boots sat next to her as she nursed the wound on her foot from the nail she had stepped on just now. She reached in her bag and pulled out a t-shirt that she had managed to find and tore a strip off and wrapped her bleeding foot in it.

"Didn't even see that fucking nail, stupid should have paid attention more" Nova said. She looked around the darkened streets, not many people were out. A group of thugs were walking down the street.

"Hey guys" Nova said to the boys who chuckled and kept going, she could see the murderous intent in their eyes. _Great I need to leave now, these guys are not from the tenth street reds, shit there is about to be fight. _

"Hang on guy's ill catch up" one said and walked over to the Blondie sixteen year old. She sighed away a bit.

"Hey im not her to hurt you" the boy said, he was around her age and smiled at her "You remember from the orphanage, you know before the city shut it down to make way for that knew towers foundation?"

"Tommy?" Nova asked.

"Yeah, here let me see that" Tommy said and picked her foot up and unwrapped it. He tsked at the wound.

"You were always getting hurt Nova"

"Yeah, I know"

Tommy pulled a bottle of whiskey out from his coat and poured it on to her foot. She hissed at the pain as the alcohol began to disinfect the wound. Tommy wrapped her foot back up and put the bottle away.

"There all better" Tommy said smiling. A car drove around the corner, it was moving slow and one of the windows dropped down. Tommy saw the handgun appear from inside the vehicle. Tommy covered Eva up as the gun went off and bullets hit him in the back. Blood splattered Nova.

"Tommy?" Nova asked looking at the boy, his eyes held no spark.

"Tommy!" Nova yelled. The body of her friend was yanked off her and she looked up to see a large dark skinned man.

"I think you owe us for protection"

"You killed my friend!" Nova yelled.

"He is a disciple, he was going to kill you" the man said and held out his hand "protection money, now im thinking two hundred"

"I don't have that much!" Nova yelled. The man chuckled along with his buddies; one of the other men grabbed her and started to drag her towards the alley.

"You can pay off your debt starting now" Nova screamed as she realized there intent as they threw her onto the ground and then they were all over her.

Present day

Eva, or as Ry had just learned, Nova was crying in his arms. Ry didn't know how to comfort a human let alone a women she he did his best.

"After that they made me work as a whore till I escaped with a friend I made named Carver and went to the Police. They put me in protection and I tested positive for being a spartan, had the right genes and everything so ONI took me in. They gave me everything and now here I am, some how still sane" Nova said.

"How can something like that happen? I mean I thought that humans took care of each other better than that?"

"Ha, only in colonies they do" Nova said "inner city is the same old shit"

"If you hate your past then why keep the necklace?" Ry asked her wondering why some one would keep a token of that history.

"It's my past and as much as it is fucked up, it is where I came from and I can never forgot who I am. I may have been a lowlife whore but I didn't break and this reminds that I am strong. That I didn't need some mothers love to turn out for the better, that I faced a future as bleak as space and came out better. That I survived"

"I think I understand" Ry said "it's good you got over it, do you feel better now?"

"Well, im happy here and I don't care what others think" Nova said strongly "its funny I was required to tell some people I loved them when it wasn't true but not this time. I love you Ry"

Ry was taken back as Nova kissed his head and walked form the mess hall towards the corridor to the crew quarters. Ry studied his reflection in the shiny metal surface of the table. His red eyes glared back at him, _my father's eyes_. Ry growled as his past rushed back. Ry rolled his shoulders and shrugged it off. The Sangheili stood up and walked over to the fridge to get a drink. Ry closed his eyes as a sharp pain lanced through his head and he fell over clutching his head as images and colors flashed in front of his eyes. Ry stood up as they did and looked around as the room was dark as the lights had exploded. Ry looked up as he watched a female elite walk towards him. She was limping and covered in blood, her eyes were glowing white.

"Ry, forgetting about me already Ry?" the elite asked him as it limped toward him.

"No, no, no" Ry said.

"No, then who is she. You can't run from the pain forever Ry and sooner or later you'll want an end to all your pain" the figure said.

"No, im over this, over you" Ry said clutching his head. "Get out of my head, your not real"

"Im not real!" the Sangheili yelled and grabbed a knife from the table and lunged at Ry. He caught her hands and struggled with her as he felt the knife coming closer to him. She grinned at him as the knife came closer then said in her sing song voice.

"Make us whole"

"Ry!" Nova yelled causing the elite to snap out of the vision and look at his hands, he was holding the knife.

"Oh fuck" Ry said before hitting the ground unconscious.

**Well, let me thank everyone that reviewed last chapter. Thanks for all the favorites adding have and stuff like that. Also I would consider doing a short five to ten chapter story that focuses on Eva, or now as you know her November Raynor's past, tell me what you think in a review or massage. Also next chapter will be a lot more action. These chapters are there to help ad characterization more and add substance besides just war and stuff because that is not all that happens in the life of soldiers, Marines Etc. **

**Im going to start doing this as well and responded to some reviews. **

**Voro-thanks for reviewing and your compliments. I also would like to thank you for saying that you will review every chapter. **

**He who sees- uh, what? **

**Jarhead762-Thanks for reviewing and for the good luck. Im going in as a 0311 with a security force contract and want to get into FAST Company down the road (I will still write when I can though). **

**Yohdregen- thanks for reviewing and marthoning the story. **

**Godzilla Monster-thanks for reviewing and yes the M99 is and I knew but the AS50 uses both Mac and the standard firing method to of gunpowder, etc. **

**Katamariguy- Thanks for reviewing and my spartans are not supposed to be likeable, but relatable.**


	24. The assualt on Helghan

**Well, I only got four reviews for the last chapter. I was hoping for some more (hint, hint) but it's all right. Also a few more favorites and alerts so that's good. **

June 4th 3232, 1103 SMT UNSC Frigate _Bushnell/_ in route to Helghan:

Jason leaned against the railing of the balcony that over looked the lower part of the mess hall. His one good eye scanned the room looking at all the young marines, ODST, and Spartans that sat at the tables enjoying their meals, some it could very well be the last that they ever eat. Jason sighed as he watched the news on the screen, what ever the reporter was saying was lost in his thoughts. _How many of these young kids are going to make it? _Jason thought to himself as he tapped the ash from his cigar into a tray in the railing. Jason looked at his reflection in the shiny metal bars; the face that stared back didn't resemble him from four months ago. His youthful demeanor was gone; scars crisscrossed his cheek below his eye patch. His hair cut in a high and tight fashion showed the scars around the sides of his head and his lack of facial hair did nothing to hide his aging face. _It seems I aged forty years in only four months_ Jason thought scoffing at his own thought before taking a drag on his cigar and letting the nicotine claim his mind.

Jason felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked back to see his girlfriend, Angelica. Her soft brown hair was let down, clearly out of regulations but not many people would say anything about it hours before an invasion. Her blue eyes had a look of compassion as she looked on the spartan. He looked around fifty may be sixty but was only forty, still young due to the average lifespan being a century and a half.

"You look sad Jason, what is wrong?" Angelica asked him as she leaned against the rail next to him.

"Just thinking about the invasion, about everything" Jason said as he looked at her "what if I don't come back, or you, hell none of may come back from this one"

"Jason, you shouldn't think like that, we will all make it out. Ack-Ack is the best commander in the ninth, he wont let us down" Angel said putting a hand on her lovers shoulder "besides im not going any where"

"Angel, its war, we can't make any promises" Jason said "our luck wont last forever"

"Love, if we give up now than we already are dead" Angel said. Jason looked out across the room again, his brow furrowed as he thought about what his girlfriend said.

"Ok, I understand but your wrong, I can make you one promise" Jason said as he looked at her "I wont let you die alone"

Angel nodded and leaned in for a kiss which Jason returned.

"We should get to the hanger and prepare for what is to come" Jason sighed as he stood up from the rail; he took Angel's hand and lead her from the mess hall. Down below a different conversation was taking place.

Lance Corporal Tomas Shevchenko slammed his glass of soda down on the table as he tried to keep from laughing from a joke that his fellow ODST and squad mate, Rico Velasquez, had just made.

"That is a good one Rico" Sev said as he chuckled. The two were new to the squad and had yet to make any other good friends in the squad. The platoon that they were in was lead by Lt. Neibecker; Sev didn't know much about the man other than he was a highly decorated officer, who got his commission from a spartan. One of their other squad mates who had been a little more friendly to them chuckled a bit before putting his glass down.

"I think that is one of the funniest jokes I have heard all day" The mountain of a man said. The man was a sergeant, and the squad's leader. Tychus Findley stood at six four and close to two hundred and seventy pounds, all of it was rippling muscle.

"So Tychus, what is the deal with the Lt?" Rico asked "I heard the guy is some sort of badass"

Tychus chuckled a bit before responding to the dark skinned corporal. The large man shook his head as he looked at him funny.

"Nah, the Lt is no badass. He is to soft" Tychus said but sighed "Though he is hard man, guy did get a battlefield commission from a spartan, hell the only reason he wasn't one was his old mans aim was off"

Sev sighed and looked around to see to taller looking soldiers looking out across the mess hall from the balcony. One was a tall male and the other a female, Sev could make out a black spot on the malls arm.

"Hey Tychus, what's up with those guys?" Sev asked pointing to the two as they walked away from the balcony out of sight.

"Spartans, members of the black wolves" Tychus said "they don't talk much but when they due you best listen"

"That is Major Jason Wells Spartan E Company, and Master Sargent Angelica Rayna" a voice said causing the three to look over and see Lieutenant Neibecker "and Tychus is right if they talk listen. Now come on finish up and start getting ready, we drop in six hours"

June 4th 3232, 1312 SMT/ UNSC Frigate _Mason_/ in route to Omega:

Nova walked into the science wing of the ship and saw doctor Sawako looking into a test tube at a piece of meat. The strange thing about the meat is that it was hooked up to a bunch of tubes, wires and other devices. Nova raised her eyebrow at what she was seeing; the doctor looked up from the microscope, the doctors Asian features were crunched together as her face betrayed her deep thought and frustration.

"So, I thought we where going to Aegis seven?" Sawako said still studying the sample.

"No, that is after we get Havno Solus on Omega, he will have the Intel that we need to get to that place and get more Intel and take another Necron lab out in the process"

"Eva, you have basic science knowledge right?"

"Yes" Nova answered her little taken aback by the insult.

"Well, then come and look at this" Sawako said stepping back from the work station. Nova shrugged and walked over to the microscope and looked down the device. Despite a lot of advances in scientific equipment many scientist still used microscopes. Nova could see some sort of single cell organism crawling around on the meat, but what struck her as weird was that blood was flowing and the meat was rippling like muscle.

"I have used some test equipment to make this subject seem to be alive, the cells are alive and healthy" Sawako said sighing "but the problem is that virus you see is a sample of the virus encountered on the station"

"Where did you get a sample of it?" Nova said as she stood up and looked at the doctor with a raised eyebrow.

"I couldn't open the containment unit on the artifact, due to the fact that it is full of the virus" Sawako said as she walked over to a drawer "So I thought about other sources I had, and after all I can not contaminate the ship. I realized that the only one who had been directly exposed to what I am calling NV1"

"So who got directly exposed?" Nova asked the doctor.

"Your friend Ry Nomi, I took a blood sample with his consent and bingo" Sawako said pulling out a tube full of purple blood "the virus is in his blood, yet he has suffered no ill effects from, or so I thought"

Nova crossed her arms as she listened to the doctor talk about her latest realization.

"Then after observing Ry's behavior I realized that, in fact, he does suffer ill effects. I originally contributed it to PTSD but the virus is affecting his mind" Sawako said as she looked at the strange artifact suspended in a containment unit "When you walked in on Ry trying to stab himself, he actually was having a vision"

Nova was shocked, _Ry is infected by this unknown alien virus and it's making him see shit?_

"Ry's vision was triggered by the artifact, I just know it but I don't have evidence that it does" Sawako said "anyway I got off track here, what is really strange is that meat you looked at is for all intents and purpose 'alive' and infected"

"Its meat, don't you need a brain to have visions?" Nova said as she silently questioned the doctor's sanity.

"True, that is what makes this weird that meat is fine. The virus is exiting symbiotically with that T-bone over there" Sawako said sighing. Just then her golden retriever ran out and through Novas legs as the door opened as Hudson walked into the room. Novas hand slammed into the workstation to keep from falling but hit the off switch on the tubes and other apparatus that made the meat alive again.

"Albert!" Nova said as she looked at the dog. The dog barked at her happily waging its tall as Hudson scratched the dog behind his ears.

"Well, hello to you to puppy" Hudson said as he rubbed Albert's head "How you been boy?"

Albert barked his response causing the three to laugh as Sawako sighed and tossed him a dog bone. Hudson looked around before looking at Sawako.

"Doc, can you tell me why one of my best soldiers was attempting to stab himself in the head and is still knocked out cold lying in a medical stasis bed?" Hudson asked her a bit angrily. Sawako sighed and proceeded to reiterate what she had just told Nova to Hudson.

"So, my trooper is infected by this…" Hudson said before being cut off by a thud. The three looked around and didn't see anything else besides them and Albert chewing on his dog bone.

"What the fuck was that?" Hudson said as he looked around, his hand snapping to the pistol holstered on his thigh. Nova looked around and saw that the meat was twitching; rapidly something was growing off of it.

"Uh doctor, what the fuck is happening?" Nova said pointing to the mutating steak. Sawako gasped as her eyes widened as the thing tried to bang through its containment unit.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell have you been doing?" Hudson said as he drew his gun and pointed it at twitching mess.

"The NV1, it repurposed the dead cells" Sawako said exasperated "Hudson, we can't let the Turians unleash this as a weapon. This virus will make the flood look like a common tapeworm compared to these things"

Hudson lowered his gun and replaced his side arm back in its holster and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Doc, nothing leaves this lab understood?" Hudson said "Eva, I want you to stay here and guard this place"

"Yes sir" Nova said nodding as she leaned up against the wall and began her vigil.

June 4th 3232, 1440 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Bushnell/_ Drop pod bay one:

Jason walked along the rows of ODST and Spartans that sat on the benches waiting for the drop. Jason was full encased in his armor; the black wolf tattoo that adorned his arm had been painted onto one of his shoulder pads. His rifle was strapped to the assault pack that was mounted to his back. Jason looked down at one of the young ODSTs; he had dark black hair that was cut short in a military fashion. Jason looked over his gear and saw that his rifle was missing.

"Where is your rifle Trooper?"

"Sir, I have it stashed in the compartment in the pod. Just like protocol says to do" the ODST said as he stood up and snapped to attention. Jason sighed, he looked the ODST over. The man's armor was new, no marks, scrapes or dents yet. Jason reached into the drop pod that was across from the young trooper. The spartan found the rifle right where the ODST said it would be and pulled it free from the compartment and handed it to the man.

"What's your name, rank, all that stuff?" Jason asked as he removed his helmet and attached it to his armor for safe keeping.

"Lance Corporal Thomas Shevchenko Sir, one hundred and first ODST rangers" Sev said proudly.

"Where you're from, Ojum?" Jason asked the ODST as he looked around as other ODST were staring now, well the new ones were.

"No sir Vekto"

"This your first real drop?" Jason asked looking back at the younger man.

"Yes sir, it is" Sev said "I cant wait to get down their and kill some monkeys, sir!"

Jason sighed and shook his head; _these kids are all going to die_.

"All right listen up, if this is your first drop stand at attention" Jason barked to everyone in the room. The room held one platoon from E company and three from the 101st ODST. None of the spartans stood up but close to sixty eight ODST were on their feet.

"Jesus Christ, Lt Neibecker" Jason barked out "Front and center if you please"

The ODST officer walked over and stood next the Spartan, Jason world normally stand about level with the man but his armor gave him a two inch boast and made him look much larger than the ODST.

"I want you to make sure everyone in this room is combat ready, mags pouch covers open, pistols and rifles condition one them" Jason said to the Lt. so that the others couldn't hear.

"Even the spartans?"

"Yes, check their gear over" Jason said before barking orders to the other shook troopers.

"Everyone retrieve your weapons from their space in the pods" Jason yelled, the troops quickly moved and retrieved their weapons.

"Good, condition one them and keep them in your hands ready to go during the drop, five seconds from impact flip the safety off" Jason said "remember you all ways drop ready to fight as soon as the hatch opens, more of you will make it"

The sound of rifle bolts being racked resounded around the small cramped room. Lt. Neibecker walked up and down making sure that weapons were ready to kill and that their ammo was easily accessible.

"All spartans and ODST are to load up in two minutes" a voice said over the loud speaker. Jason walked over to his pod that was right next to his brothers and Carrero's. Jason sighed and replaced his helmet on to his head. Jason grabbed his rifle and checked it over, _she is all good to go_ he thought as he nodded to his comrades and they stepped into the pods. Jason got situated in the metallic flying coffin; he looked around and saw the ODST loading up in to their pods. Jason watched the hatch close and the pods spring to life.

"Lieutenant Neibecker, we all good to go?" John asked over the communication lines.

"Yes sir, all troops loaded and ready"

"Major John, spartan e company eight platoons" John's fellow squad leader, Allan Rod began "reports all green"

"Understood, Colonel Ack-Ack" John said as the line switched to the groups command "Task group four is all green lights"

"Good, now tell your boys to direct their attention to the monitors for their in Flight movie" Ack-Ack said. John relayed to the other men and women in the pods to watch the screens, John focused on the main screen in his pod. The screen came to life and showed a short black man wearing a white suit standing behind a podium.

"I address you tonight not as the president of the UEG" the president of the UEG, Omar Hudson began "not as a leader of a nation, but as a citizen of humanity. This day will always be remembered as our brave soldiers, sailors and other service members are about to embark on a great journey right into hell itself. But yet for the first time, we have the technology and drive to prevent what happened seven hundred years ago from happening again and finally securing the galaxy so our children can live in a time of peace we have never known" Omar said before sighing and looking up at the cameras "We as humans, as Sangheili's, as Unggoy, as Mgalekgolo and as Kig-yar have prepared ourselves for this terrible battle. The wars we have all fought, every time we venture into the unknown, every step we take up the ladder of knowledge and science has given us these tools" Omar said before slamming his fist down into the podium "but it is none of these things that will give us victory over our enemies and secure a future brighter than we ever imagined for species, and that is our courage. The hopes and dreams of billons weigh on the shoulder of those brave enough to face down the demons that prowl our borders and drive them back from where they came!" Omar said as he stared at the camera, his eyes set and his expression was one of pure determination "To the men and women of UNSC and Union forces, drive those bastards straight back through the gates of hell!"

John could hear as the ODST and spartans yelled out their response to the president's speech.

"Oorah!" John yelled as he saw the timer for drop time hit zero and the familiar feeling of weightlessness hit him as the pod rocketed for the surface of Helghan.

Jason watched as the massive fleets of ships engage each other, lines of plasma arched across the sky in a beautiful yet horrific light show. Jason watched as the millions of ODST Pods rocketed downwards toward the gray rock below. The spartan could fell the buffeting as the pod entered the atmosphere of Helghan. The pod rocked as it plunged downwards and the altimeter counted down faster than Jason could watch. Suddenly plasma bursts filled the air as the ground defenses attempted to shoot down as many pods before they could hit the ground. Jason felt his pod shack from one such blast, he grabbed the handles as he bounded around a little in the compartment.

"Fuck, go faster damn it!" Jason yelled out, he could hear the screams of ODST and Spartans as their pods were washed into a bright green oblivion by one of the plasma flak mortars. Jason looked out as the pod near him ruptured in a bright green flash, Jason briefly saw the young women in the flash before she was vaporized. The Spartans pods chute was blown of and he rocketed toward the ground faster than before. The pod zipped past the others and smashed into the side of one of the taller structures in the city below. The pod skidded along the wall, twisting and tumbling as it did, all the while its spartan occupant was screaming out obscenity. The pod smashed into the street and Jason felt his head hit the top of the pod due to him landing upside down. Jason blinked the blackness away from his eyes and looked around. He saw brute troopers running around taking cover to try to get the drop on the ODST as they hit the ground. Jason watched as one of the large tanks came rolling down the street, its tread headed right for him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" Jason said as his hands started to work on the jammed harness. He quickly got the straps undone and looked out to see the tank even closer. The spartan moved around so his feet were against the hatch, Jason pushed and the cover flew off. The sounds of other pods hitting the ground echoed off the walls of the city and mixed with the screams of the brute civilians. Jason grabbed his rifle and dived from the pod and scrambled to his feet and sprinted towards where he saw a large group of spartans and ODST taking cover behind the vehicles that littered the street. Jason's could hear the crunch as the tank ran over his pod. Rounds dug themselves into the street as the spikes from the brute weapons chased him down the road. Jason vaulted over a barrier of sorts and ducked down. The massive tank fired its main gun sending chucks of humans in armor into the air. Jason looked over the barrier and started to return fire at the brutes, two of the aliens were dropped by the spartans fire. He could have got more kills but the tanks multiple machinegun turrets were suppressing the men and women of task group four.

"John we are pinned we need to take that thing out!" Jason yelled to his brother who was a few meters behind him taking cover in a foxhole.

"I know that but we don't have air support!" John yelled back. Jason thought quickly and then a light bulb went on.

"Carrero, TJ, Cale on me and grab a jackhammer!" Jason yelled before he bolted over to the building on his left. Jason got to the doorway alcove and could see lines of spike behind him.

"Give my team some cover fire!" Jason yelled. The three spartans ran as fast as they could stay low as rounds from both sides poured at each other. The brute tank fired again but the human troops managed to get out of its fire. Jason kicked the door to the building open; his armor augmented his strength sending the door flying off its hinges and right into an unsuspecting brute solider that was knocked of his feet by the metal door. Jason quickly brought his rifle up along with his three fire team members and began to fire bursts of plasma encased rounds into the brutes. The spartans quickly rushed the aliens before they could recover and dropped the six brutes with cold efficiency.

"John, the brutes are trying to flank you in the buildings!" Jason yelled over the comm. line "get everyone in to the building on your left!"

"Shit, move it!" John yelled back and began to give orders to the ODST and spartans to move into the building. The tanks main gun fired and the door to the building was pulverized by the round.

"Go through the windows move now!" John yelled, Jason could hear the order in his helmet but it didn't apply to him. The four spartans ran up the flights of stairs to the third floor. Jason smashed the door in with his foot and charged into the large open room. Inside he saw civilian brutes taking cover behind desks as the troops were firing at the humans in the street. Jason quickly fired his under slung grenade launcher causing three brutes to be reduced to pulp and two others to drop as frag tore them apart. Jason snapped his rifle to the next target and put the brute down. The four spartans quickly took cover as a large group of brute soldiers came running through a large double door at the end. Jason leaned over the edge of the desk he taken cover behind and fired his rifle at the creatures until his ammo counter read zero. The spartans and brutes exchanged rounds, the spikes impaling themselves all over the walls and support columns that filled the room. Jason heard the sound of the tanks turret turning and then he felt the ground shake and then began to collapse. Jason dived foreword as the floor started to sag below him. The spartan scrambled towards the wall as the floor sagged again; his fellow spartans were thankfully on a stable surface and were busy suppressing the brute troops. Jason looked up as high pitched scream caught his ear, a young brute girl was screaming as she slid down the floor. The spartan scrambled up the slope trying his best to stay behind the shifting desks as he stumbled up. Jason caught the girl in his arm and quickly managed to get to a flat surface as the floor had stop shifting due to its support structure being wrecked by the tanks shell. TJ peaked out from the pillar that had become his cover and fired his FA-6 LMG at the brutes; those who hadn't seen him in time received the guns lethal gift. More brutes screamed as the machinegun tore them apart. TJ saw a line of spike appear three inches from his face in the pillar and he snapped back.

"Carrero, Cale toss grenades and force them out!" TJ yelled to his comrades who were behind two over turn desks. Jason had scrambled his way of the sloping floor with a brute child and dove behind a knee wall. Two grenades whipped past him and then rounds from the spartans guns as the covered TJ so he could snap back out from cover. The young spartan aimed his handheld meat grinder and waited. The brutes all scrambled as the grenades landed. _Dumb monkeys _TJ thought as he pulled the trigger as the brutes scrambled for new cover. The machine guns ammo counter decreased rapidly as rounds tore into everything. The two frag grenades went off sending a few brutes to their death. The rounds for the spartans guns cleaned everything up, as brutes scrambled for what ever cover they could find. Then a more guns joined the fray as the brute troops were filled with spikes. Jason watched as brutes in similar armor came running into the room the one difference was that they had a white cross on their armor which marked them as Helghast resistance.

"Thanks for the assist!" Jason yelled as the tank fired again this time at the building where most of the other humans had taken cover.

"Cale!" TJ yelled to the spartan with the rocket launcher. Cale ran over to a window and looked down at the tank below him. He saw the grates that went over the engine bay and fired both warheads. The spartans and brute resistance fighters ran over to the edge as the rounds impacted the tank creating two holes in the tanks. Jason began firing his weapon into the engine compartment of the monster. The three other spartans and twelve Helghast did the same but to no anvil. The tank turned its main gun on them, brute troops rushed up the street past the lumbering beast to try and push the humans back.

"Move!" the Helghast leader yelled. Jason ran from the window and towards the double doors following the Helghast. The tanks shell detonated a large section of the third floor taking five of the Helghast with it. Jason heard the roar of a pelican's engine overhead, followed by a loud thud. The Spartans looked back and saw that the floor now had a large section missing and the second floor was below.

"Come on!" Jason yelled and ran over the edge of what once was part of the buildings third floor and landed on the second. The others followed him and they began to take cover and fire back at the brutes in the street. Jason looked out to see what had made the thud,_ hope that pelican didn't crash_ he thought. His eyes were greeted by three L-5 walkers marching up the street, pouring machinegun fire into the brute's positions. The tank fired again and one of the walkers up compartment was engulfed in flame but its shields held, barely. The force caused it to stumble back and nearly fall but the pilot saved it. Jason looked away and sighted on to new targets and squeezed burst after burst form his BR57 into the enemy troops. The tank prepared to fire again but never got the chance as one of the walkers fired its anti-tank weapon. The missiles shot straight up and then arched right down into the tanks exposed engine bay. The tanks shuddered as the explosions rattled its hull. The tank exploded in a blinding blue light as the engines went critical. Jason gave a hand signal to his fire team and they moved out and back down to ground level. The walkers marched up the street forcing the brutes back, the battle machines higher vantage point cut the brutes cover choice immensely.

"Task group four form up behind the walkers and push towards your first objective" John ordered. The human troops quickly reentered the war torn streets and followed the walkers by leap frogging from cover to cover, taking out enemies along the way. It took them fifteen minutes to get to their first objective, one of the brute flak batteries. They pushed through the destroyed gates into some sort of arena and into the stands since the battery was in the field's center. Jason ran through the open area and into the stands, the spartan ducked behind a row of seats that thankfully provide decent cover.

"Platoons one and two move left, three flanks right" John yelled out sending the ODST troops around the enemy "Spartans press foreword!"

Jason ran foreword and slid behind a low wall that served as a railing to stop people form falling off and into the arena floor.

"TJ, Yazid, Cale get up here!" John yelled from next to Jason "Maria and Julie get us some sniper cover from up there!" John yelled pointing to the row of luxury style boxes. The two snipers broke off and cloaked as they headed for their assigned position. Jason snapped up from his cover and fired three bursts into a brute that was trying to reach a mounted gun whose gunner had been killed. The alien stumbled as the first burst impacted his legs, the second hit him center mass and the third finished the job. The three spartans had got level with John and Jason.

"Set your guns up and start pouring some serious fire onto those basterds!" John yelled as he looked over the low wall. The other spartans were pouring fire on to the brute positions keeping their attention as the ODSTs flanked them in the horseshoe shaped arena. TJ got behind his LMG as Jason slapped the feed tray down; Jason had carried the assault pack full of rounds. The pack sat on the ground against the wall and the belt of ammo began to whirr as TJ pulled the trigger sending long bursts of death at the enemy. Jason looked up to see a brute gunship flying towards them. Two loud cracks quickly resounded and the gunship veered off and crashed through a large section of the stadium.

"Nice shots!" Carrero yelled "how did you know it didn't have shields?"

"I didn't" Maria said before another loud crack sounded and a somewhere a brute's chest erupted in a volcano of gore. Jason watched as the walkers charged through the open end of the horse shoe shaped arena and began to assault the brute positions. The spartan began firing his rifle as spike rounds impacted the side of the wall, on bounced off his shield causing it drop down a good deal. Suddenly a beam of purple light vaporized a small slit just below the edge of the wall and Jason ducked down as he screamed out to his comrades.

"Sniper!" Jason yelled. A few loud cracks followed close behind, Jason knew that the Maria's expert aim had found its mark. Jason heard the noise of a high speed engine and looked up to see a brute fighter craft roar as it banked around to make a pass at the stadium. The craft launched a salvo of missiles at the walkers, tow managed to escape but one was hit by the rockets and mushroomed out as its insides exploded out from the machine.

"That fighter is coming back around for another pass, get some better cover!" One of the Riesig pilots yelled on the task group's comm. line.

"Move!" John yelled to the squad. TJ quickly tossed the pack on to his back and grabbed his LMG, Cale did the same and the spartans quickly ran into the main concourse section of the arena.

"We need to keep fighting, come on lets get up to the luxury boxes" Jason said to his brother panting a little form the dead sprint up the flights of steps. John nodded and motioned for his brother to take point. Jason ran over to the nearest switch back ramp and began to run up the left side, his fire team formed up in a line behind him while John and his fire team did the same.

"Darrell, get on the horn and see what support we have available!" John ordered as they round the ramps and saw a kicked into door to the luxury area. The spartans ran in to the carted area and looked around; the walls were decorated with pictures and posters of the events that took place, gladiator style compactions and executions.

"Shit, these monkeys are fucked up" Carrero said glancing around before kicking in a door to one of the boxes.

"Jason, TJ Carrero set up there, I want the other machine gun team three boxes down" John said "Darrell what is the status on the report?"

"Sir, we have artillery assists on the ground and awaiting coordinates" Darrell yelled back to the spartan leader as he fired his weapon from the door way of the box that Jason, TJ and Carrero had set up in. Jason aimed down the sight of his weapon but stopped pulling the triggers as artillery found its mark. The field ruptured as the massive artillery barrage devastated the area.

"Colonel this is task group four, Flak battery down" John said as he quickly rounded the squad members up.

"Roger that, secure the area and establish and LZ" Ack-Ack said "we will rendezvous with one it is set and push to the river"

"Hard copy, task group four out" John said as the lines switched back over to the task groups "Task group four, secure the arena and establish and LZ, Task group three will rendouv with us and we will began our push to the river"

"Understood sir, sweep and clear"

Jason and his fire team took point once again as they began to clear the stadium, the process took only ten minutes and they were meet with little resistance as the brutes were being forced back. Jason could see Marines and other Union and human troops moving up the streets with armor support as the brutes had been forced back. The task force regrouped in a section of the stands of the arena. John looked up as the colonel walked over followed by the spartan squad that he led. The other members of the task group took some seats in the stands and rested up.

"Colonel Sir" John said facing the man.

"At ease spartan, hell of a job you did here" Ack-Ack said looking around "We got new objectives, the brutes are managing to stonewall our forces around three clicks from here, that's four from the river our forces main objective"

John walked with the colonel down the stands and to the field. By now pelicans had begun to land and drop off supplies, more men and other things to help establish the arena as an FOB. Grizzly battle tanks along with pumas, scorpions and more walkers were being ferried to the ground.

Ack-Ack stopped and turned the projection function of his tacpad on and showed John the situation better.

"The brutes are receiving their forces via a very large bridge across the river; thankfully the bridge is not in the center of their lines but rather in the left flank of the main brute line. The entire line is heavily fortified; right when we landed they began to set it up"

"Sir, how do they expect us to get through that?" Jason asked as walked over.

"They don't, because we are not breaking their line, as long as the bridge remains they will be able to hold the line for a very long time and cost us a lot, this city was well planned that river cuts the city in half and the large lake protects its right flank, the large mountain range serves as a natural wall and the river takes a sharp turn cutting the city in two"

"So they built their city in one of the best defensible positions that has ever existed?" John asked him.

"Yes, the inner city is much larger than the outskirt section" Ack-Ack said "most of their military forces are there"

"So they have an entire MEF's worth of forces at the minimum while we have one at the most?" John asked not wanting to hear the answer.

"Yes, thankfully the Helghast are also on our side and are wrecking havoc in the inner city but there is only so much they can do" Ack-Ack said sighing "Our mission is to enter the cities sewer system, it flows directly to the river, and use it to get to the bridge"

"Just how big is this bridge?" Jason asked.

"Big enough that people live on, if you want numbers its six miles long and nearly one mile wide, that river is almost a large winding lake. The thing has lots of large supports and is truly and marvel of engineering bur since people love on it the sewer system flows in the bridges structure" Ack-Ack said as he moved the map to zoom in on the bridge "command has tasked us with taking a small yield tac bomb to the center of this bridge and destroying it"

"Great, another suicide mission" Jason said exasperated "and how the fuck do they want us to pull this one off, drag the thing?"

"Basically, once the weapon is set we are to Exfil using a new zip line toy and meet up with our ride back to this FOB at these coordinates"

"They are sending and entire task group for this?" Jason asked rising an eyebrow.

"Now my squad and your squad are tasked for this while the rest of our groups get to keep pushing the monkeys back"

"Sir, there has to be other bridges" John said.

"Nope, this one acts as a natural barrier between the poor and rich" Ack-Ack said "thanks to the covenants over zealous class separation ideals, all the poor on one side of the bridge, everyone else on the other"

"That's messed up" Jason said before sighing "so when does the party start?"

"We got tow hours of rest, while the rest of our men have to continue the push" Ack-Ack said "Get some rest we leave in one twenty mikes so meet back here at 1800"

"Aye sir" the spartan brothers said and went off to tell the others about their new objective.

Unknown time and date

Ry felt his eyes flutter open and he looked around his surroundings. He could tell that he wasn't it the mason. Ry sat up from the ground he was laying on, and looked around at the place. He was in a Union ship, but something was off about it. The elite looked down at himself and found that he was wearing specops armor. His hand brushed against something and he looked down. His hand rested on a plasma rifle, Ry shook his head and stood up grabbing the weapon. The Sangheili suddenly had a realization of where he was.

"Oh fuck me" Ry said as he jogged off down the hallway.

"Ry, are you there?" a female elite voice said over the comm. line in his helmet.

"Uh yeah, im here Ati" Ry said as he jogged down the hall of the ship, all around him was blood splatters and destroyed ship. Ry ducked under a low hanging thick wire and looked at the jammed door in front of him.

"Listen if we don't make it out of here, I want you to know that I love you" Ati said

"Don't say that im coming!" Ry yelled as he grabbed the edges of the door and began to pull it open at its center seem. Ry looked up as a strange blur smashed into him and knocked him off his feet. Ry looked up and right into the eyes of a necromorph form of a Kig-yar. The thing had tackled him and its mutated mouth open up into five separate parts as it tired to engulf his head but he managed to push it back the things mouth reformed and its eyes glowed a ghostly white as its head morphed into that of Ati.

"I beat you could just push it all away, bury nice and dead down" the warped thing said in its eerie voice. Ry grabbed the plasma rifle and jammed it into the things face and pulled the trigger. The thing flew off of him and the elite scrambled to his feet. Ry charged the messed up looking necromorph and punched it in the head knocking it off. The body twitched and started to flail around swing its scythe like arms. Ry aimed the plasma weapon and fired it till the weapon over heated it. The Kig-yar morph was reduced to a bubbling puddle of flesh. Ry started walking again but something caught his attention. Reactively he turned and aimed his rifle and fired. The plasma bolt impacted the wall. The hole that was burnt into it was right in the middle of Ry's reflection chest.

"I beat you wish you could just shoot a hole right through your chest and ended all the pain don't you?" Ati's voice said right before a ghostly apparition of the women, covered in blood straight out of the wall and grabbing his throat. Ry grabbed the warped version of his long lost women and began to try and push her off.

"Ry!" wake up the voice of Arianna said breaking through and bringing him out of the vision and back into the real world. The elite looked around, the bed was soaked with sweat and Ry had his hands around his neck. Ry looked at his hands; he looked up at the female spartan medic.

"What is happening to me?"

**So, there is chapter twenty four of I don't know how many. Also again the poll is still open, so please vote. As I said in the last chapter I will respond to the reviews, and since there were only four this won't take long. **

**Voro-Yes I have thought the past to the major OC's and also there will be some relations that are going to be shown later on along with the ONI spartans real names (Hudson, and Arianna). Also Ry's past is going to be fully revealed in the next few chapters. **

**Just a crazy man- As always you are a faithful reader and reviewer. Im glad that Nova's past had an effect, since she is after all your favorite character. **

**Iron elsar- What are you my English Teacher? **

**Kirk-Vamp-Fan- thanks for reviewing for the first time and thanks for the compliment and don't worry the enter citadel space will tremble at humanities might. **


	25. Death Before Dishonor

**So, six reviews are really nice. Im glad to see some people review that have not in a while. This chapter start sort of slow but im telling right now it is very action heavy in the middle and towards the end it gets a little darker.**

June 4th 3232, 1204 SMT/ Citadel:

Garrus walked into the meeting room in the C-sec head quarters. Inside the room were executor Pallin, the council members and other C-Sec and Turian military officers.

"Ah, Sargent Garrus" Thenvel said as he stood and shook the fellow Turians hand "It is a pleasure to meet a solider your caliber"

"Thank you sir" Garrus said as he sat down in one of the open seats. The door closed and Executor Palin stood up to address the group.

"Council members allow me to introduce, Sargent Garrus Vakarian" The executor began "Highly decorated Turian solider and now one of my most promising officers"

The assorted people in the room gave him a round of applause but it did nothing to brighten his mood, only remind him all his dead friends who should be with him and not rotting on some devastated colony world.

"Wait, I recognize that name" a Turian said. Garrus looked up to see none other than Saran sitting across from him "you helped me on the reactor mission on Tranak"

"Yes" Garrus answered as more memories came back to him.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have brought that place up" Saran apologized realizing that the young man was still affected by the events of the war.

"It is fine" Garrus said flatly. The asari councilor cleared her throat drawing everyone's attention.

"While the reunion of two brothers in arms is touching we need to focus on the task at hand"

"Agreed" Executor Pallin said "now we know that Human and Union troops that are responsible for the Illium tragedy are from the human Office of Naval Intelligence. Thanks to the efforts of the STG we have discovered that they are far better trained and equipped than even our most elite troops"

"How effective are these commandos?" The Salarian councilor asked the executor.

"I can answer that" Another Salarian said "Doctor Mordin Solus, STG. The humans and Sangheili commandos encounter on Illium are unlike anything we have seen. Not first encounter either. On Heaven, were present as well. Their equipment is of a level that we thought near impossible to achieve"

"What does that mean?" The Turian councilor asked narrowing his eyes at the Salarian.

"I shall put it in simple terms; the armor worn by the commandos is adaptive. Reports confirmed that a commando took a hit from tanks main gun, commando was not even harmed. The armor increases their speed and strength as well, plus has the best cloaking tech I have ever seen"

"So how do we suspect to beat them?" Thenvel asked the doctor.

"Remove the armor and their effectiveness decreases, we board their ship while they are out of it and we are on more even ground tech wise" Mordin said smiling "but that is based on an assumption, so I suggest that we use numbers instead"

"How many men are you talking about?" The asari councilor asked.

"Around one hundred of the best Asari, Salarian and Turian men we can find" Mordin said "I believe that means that we should deploy a third of the specters plus the C-Sec Sargent who is specter material, to use and expression, himself"

"That's outrageous how many of these commandos are we chasing down?" Thenvel said slamming his fist down "how many commandos are we going after? Thirty? Forty?"

"No, around ten" Mordin said frowning.

"Thenvel calm yourself, we have to do this. Those ONI people are costing us dearly" Nithlo said speaking for the first time.

"True, all right" Thenvel said agreeing.

"Then it is settled, Sargent Garrus you are here by promoted to the specters" Councilor Tevos said "normally we hold a ceremony but time is a luxury, these commandos are report trying to destroy some of our best research facilities. Garrus will be the team leader; he has faced humans in combat before"

"Wait, what" Saran said "I Have faced those vermin as well and as a special forces solider not some grunt"

"Saran, you are skilled but your arrogance and pride are not in tune with a leader who will place troop's lives above the mission. We can't afford another blood bath" Tevos said before looking at Garrus "Garrus, you have to understand that, if things are to hot or to risky and your judgment says not to go in then do not. Losing a third of our specters is not a sacrifice we are willing to make"

"Yes, councilor" Garrus said as he nodded.

"Good, now a ship and crew has been prepped for you in the presidium ring, bay ten you have your mission now get to it" Thenvel said standing "councilors, executor let us take a brief break for lunch before we continue this discussion"

"Agreed, some food sounds quite nice right now" Tevos said sighing.

"Well, my Lady allow me to escort you" Palin said. Tevos smiled and nodded as the two left the room headed for the Zakera ward. Saran walked into the hall behind Garrus but the sound of his name caught his attention.

"Saran a word please" Thenvel said. Saran nodded and walked over to the councilor.

"You are a fine solider and we will need you on this but I have special orders for you" Thenvel said in whisper "Make sure that those commandos die, it is your duty and you know exactly what is at stake. Our victory over not just humanity but all other species. Once we take over we can create a world of perfection as is our duty to create"

"Aye, Chancellor" Saran said before bowing slightly and walking away down the hall.

_If this falls through I will have to call on my fellow Visionaries and stage a cue_ Thenvel said in his mind _and that could get messy_.

Garrus walked into the CIC of the ship and looked around the small frigate. Garrus had been placed in charge and intended to make sure that the mission was accomplished. The Turian smiled to himself as he thought about what his father would say about him. Two years of service, numerous commendations and now he had become a specter, his father would be beaming. The Turian walked over to the CIC where a Turian officer meets him.

"Sir, thanks to the STG we have a lead on where to find the Humans" the officer began "They are more than likely going after a scientist that fled a research station that they attacked, he was last seen on Omega"

"Than get us underway ASAP and on the way to Omega" Garrus ordered. Garrus headed down to the stairs behind the CIC and walked down them to the lower level. Turian crew members filled the mess deck along with a few of the specters. One of the asari specters walked over to him and held out her hand.

"Tela Vasir, but you can just call me Tela"

"Garrus Vakarian"

"Well, congratulations specter and now a captain of a ship" Tela said smiling "I hope the council has not misplaced its trust"

"Same here" Garrus said flatly, his demeanor had changed since his time in the military. The spunky fifteen year old Turian was gone and replaced by a cold cynical Garrus but the old Garrus was still in there and few people could bring it out, including his friend Liara T'Soni who he was rather growing attached to.

"Well, as captain you get the big room" Tela said "Call me if you need anything or just some… company"

"Ill keep it in mind" Garrus said before walking through the mess deck not wanting to talk more than necessary to the probley naïve Turians who would want to hear what it was like to be on the frontlines groundside instead of being in space in a ship. Garrus walked into the captain's quarters, he sat down in the chair. He fired up the extranet screen in front of him and punched in the number for Liara's home. The screen came to life as the blue asari's faced appeared, the young girl smiled as she was greeted by the face of her one and true friend.

"Garrus, what a pleasant surprise" Liara said before looking around "That doesn't look like your apartment"

"It's not Liara, I can't say much just that I got a promotion and that now I have a mission to due" Garrus said as looked down. He felt the weight of what his duty was and is with the weight of the knowledge of how devastated his family, friends and the girl in front of him would be if he did not return.

"What sort of mission? Tracking down a drug trader or what ever you cops do" Liara said trying to cheer him up. After she had learned that she could be more open with him they had blossomed as friends.

"No, Liara im not" Garrus said sighing "All I can say is that this mission is high risk, I my not come back from this"

"Garrus don't talk like that your scaring me" Liara said seriously.

"Liara, if that happens" Garrus said sighing and rubbing the back of head.

"Garrus knock it off, you are scaring me right now" Liara said "Your always coming back, you have to come back"

Garrus looked at the asari; her beautiful features were ruined by the trail of tears down her cheeks. Garrus lowered his head, he didn't want to have to tell her what could happen but she needed to know.

"Garrus you have to come back, I don't think I could go on without you" Liara cried "I love you Garrus"

Garrus raised his head and looked at the young asari girl; he thought that she didn't return his feelings. The Turian solider felt as if another weight was added to the already heavy load that rest squarely on his shoulders.

"I love you to Liara; I promise I will come back" Garrus said sternly "I have a reason to now"

Liara smiled through her tears at the Turian, She placed her hand up on the screen. Garrus's eyes softened from his usual callous demeanor and he placed his hand over hers, smiling.

June 4th 3232, 1524 SMT/ Helghan Capitol city:

Sev sat on the tread of the scorpion tank as the massive beast lumbered foreword, the other treads were occupied by the other three members of his fire team, Rico who operated the FA-6 LMG, Tychus who lead the fire team and Johnson who served as the teams demo expert. Sev checked over his MA37 assault rifle, the counter read thirty two.

The ODST from task group four and three had linked up with a large column of armor and was proceeding towards the enemy lines, the brutes had managed to set up a large line along the river and the UNSC has being stone walled at the moment due to massive bridge that let the brutes receive reinforcements faster than the UNSC could push them back.

"All right you maggots, listen up" Tychus began "once we reach the back of the lines we are getting of this beautiful lady and will proceed on foot to our first objective"

"What is that objective?" Johnson asked "you do know it right?"

"You should be glad that we are friends Johnson, and yes I do first objective shove my foot up your ass, second objective is to take out a brute firebase that has been harassing our fighters and men" Tychus said as he upload the image of the building to the men's HUD. Sev looked over the structure; the building was shaped in a bent "A" shape with the front being open.

"that place is three stories tall and the third floor is full of holes, making it so the AA guns mounted there are well protected, hence the reason command declared this a no fly zone" Tychus yelled over the roar of the tanks "the fifty meter or so between the main lines is full of infantry slugging it out, it's a meat grinder machine guns and artillery are annihilating both sides"

"Fuck, so how we get through that shit?" Sev asked the sergeant.

"How's your forty time?" Tychus asked him looking back at the young ODST "once we get across the no mans land we will enter the building and clear it of brutes and demo the AA guns"

"Sir, why can't they just blow the hell out of it with artillery and tanks?" Rico inquired.

"Because the artillery is prioritized on the bridge to try and thin the reinforcements and most of our tanks are in this column"

"Fuck so we get to go on a suicide run to keep some generals time table, fuck" Johnson said. Sev heard the scream of some sort of engines over head and looked up expecting to see longswords flying overhead but was greeted by the image of three brute fighter craft soaring at them.

"Move!" Sev yelled as he dove from the tank. The ODST ran for the nearest cover as the large plasma bolts erupted around him, some finding their marks as ODST and marines became engulfed in blue light before disappearing. The tank that Sev had been sitting on five seconds ago exploded as a missile found its mark. Sev's feet left the ground and he went soaring into the wall of a ruined apartment building. He slumped down the wall as his head was ringing and swimming around. The images blurred in front of him, he watched as Tychus ran up and tried talking to him. Sev couldn't understand what the sergeant was saying, Sev felt the large man grab him by the rescue handle on the back of his armor. The large man threw him foreword and Sev stumbled as he regained his feet and senses.

"Keep running!" Lt Neibecker yelled as he lead the platoon of ODST up the street as the fighters came around again splashing the area with more plasma. Sev ran as fast as he could keeping a white knuckle grip on his rifle as he ran past the burning wrecks of tanks, APC's and warthogs. The four walkers in the convoy had managed to stay operational and were busy firing their Vulcan cannons. Two of the fighters erupted as the streams of lead found their marks. The third was clipped in the wing sending it spiraling in to a tall building nearby. Sev followed the platoon's leader as he ran into the safety of the UNSC rear. The ODST ran into the under the building parking level of an office building of sorts. Sev crouched down in the group with his squad; Rico was breathing heavy and looked over at Sev.

"What we get into bro?" Rico asked him. Sev didn't say anything as the officer spoke up.

"Squad one is up" Lt. Neibecker said as he looked around at the nine men around him.

"Squad two is missing three"

"Squad three, down to a fire team" Tychus said looking around. Sev looked behind him and saw that he was the last one in the group.

"Great, all right form up and follow me" Neibecker said as he lead the ODST through the parking area and up to the first floor of the building that was full of UNSC personal tending to wounded, handing out ammo and weapons, and working the comm. system. Sev walked out the front door and saw the area in front of him, it was breathtaking. The area was slanted slightly down towards the river but only just, the many once standing homes, business and other structures in the river had been demolished. Few buildings remained standing, in the space of a few hours the area had been devastated by artillery, air strikes and orbital support.

"Keep moving!" Tychus yelled as a brute gunship flew by spraying rounds randomly before one of the UNSC ground based missile systems caused it to erupt in a fire ball. Sev ran as the gunship wreckage crashed behind him. The ODST sprinted through the bombed out streets and through foundations of once standing structures as they moved towards their objective. The platoon stopped as the Lt took cover in the ruins of a once standing home. Sev heard a crunch and looked down to see he had stepped on a picture of sorts, the screen on the holo frame had cracked running the projection but the base photo remained. Sev could see two adult brutes, on male the other female holding in their arms an infant. Sev sighed and looked up as the Lt scanned the area in front; Sev could hear the snap and his as round soared overhead. Nearby the sound of a FA-6 roaring echoed along with the other sounds of war.

"Shit, we got an open street in front of us" the Lt said as he ducked back down "there is a busted open drain pipe in the road about twenty feet to our left"

The officer stood back up and scanned again briefly before glancing back down.

"Pop some smoke and head for the ditch, it goes along a street in between to fairly intact homes, take cover there on my mark…Mark!" Five of the ODST tossed the grenades over the edge and the area in front quickly filled with smoke.

"Crawl" The Lt said as the ODST clamored over and began to crawl along the street and into the ditch. Sev waited for his turn and when the man in front of him was over he followed suit. The young trooper crawled as fast as he could, the snapping of bullets told him that he was missing death by mere inches. Sev rolled into the ditch, it was a foot deep and three wide. The few inches of water were full of blood from the dying or dead brutes and humans that littered the street and the few bodies in the ditch. Sev nearly threw up in his helmet but kept going, survival meant he had to keep moving. The ground shook as artillery pounded the area again, plasma mortars that arched in the sky crashed down melting everything in their way. Sev reached the end of the ditch and climbed out in quickly ran into the building to his right. He tried to hold back his vomit but he couldn't and quickly pulled of his helmet and let his lunch spill out on the floor"

"Nice" One of the ODST said in a warped voice. The other troopers quickly regrouped in the home the LT began barking out orders.

"Machine gunners set up here with our three remaining marksmen and give us cover as he cross over to the objective!, take the enemy machine guns out or we all die!" the Lt said "everyone else check weapons and get ready for CQB, I want bayonets fixed"

Sev gulped and pulled the knife from its sheath and attached it to the end of his gun, the blackened blade hung under the barrel making it a little more front heavy. The machine gunners had set up and the snipers were ready.

"Let's go!" Neibecker said and lead the men out of the house. The UNSC machine guns came to life lighting the side of the A shaped building up, the brutes tried to return the fire but once a machine gun came to life it was silenced by the marksmen. The brutes that were in the area between them and the objective faced them and began to fire back. The ODST didn't stop, their supporting weapons teams quickly sub doing some of the enemy while the ODST's training took over as they fired bursts into targets and then snapping to the next. Sev fired a burst from his rifle into a brute whose chest erupted in little fountains of gore as the rounds entered the alien's chest. He snapped his rifle from target to target and sends them to what ever god they prayed to. His rifle clicked empty as he snapped to a brute that stood up in front of him as he ran. The large alien swung a hatch of some kind but the ODST ducked the blow and buried the bayonet into the brute's armpit he tore the blade out as the thing slumped over. Sev quickly slammed a fresh magazine home and saw the building coming closer; it's bombed out windows being filled with rounds from the UNSC machine guns.

"Hold fire!" the Lt yelled before he crashed through the window burying his bayonet into a brute as it stood to fire. Sev leapt into the building and began to fire his rifle into targets. The ODST charged into the building, the brutes inside didn't react fast enough. Sev fired his weapon as more of the shook troopers came in through the windows, brutes trying to fire back were either mowed down as the ODST quickly snapped from target to target, the brute infantries lack of shields not only showed that their command didn't care much but also that the ODST were fighting the lost rung of the ladder. Eruptions of gore filled the room as brutes were mowed down by fire from the twenty ODST who had just stormed through the windows. Those who tried to hit the troopers were quickly cut down.

"Tychus, take your fire team clear the second floor staring from front. Tokevon, same floor form the rear" Neibecker ordered quickly as the ODST sprang into action. Tychus gave the form up hand signal, Sev, and Johnson lined up behind him as he led them to the nearest staircase. Tychus had drawn his shotgun and when a brute turned the corner to get a drop on them his brains became a new wall paper for the stairs. The large man dove through the open door at the top of the stairs and into a hallway. The other two ODST quickly entered the hallway and began to fire rounds into the brutes. A few of the brutes hit the ground dead the rest managed to take cover in the large room that had the brutes machine gun nest in it. Tychus kicked open a door and charged into a smaller room. Sev followed him but placed a mine just outside the door.

"Good thinking!" Tychus yelled over the sounds of the ongoing fight "Johnson, make me a door"

Sev knew that the demo expert's eyes had light up under the polarized lenses of his helmet. Johnson placed a charge on the wall and the three ODST stood on the wall. The charge detonated and blew a large hole in the wall. Sev charged through and saw the nine brutes inside the room turn in shock, three of the brutes guarding the door didn't turn fast enough as Sev mowed them down before they could react. Two of the brute soldiers that had been standing to near the wall were dead and the other four were quickly killed as Johnson's rifle and Tychus semi-automatic shotgun made short work of them.

"Lt, second floor is secured" Tychus relayed.

"Roger that the first is cleared and the third is heavy on resistance gets up there now"

Tychus reloaded his shotgun and lead them back into the hallway. He led them down it and looked into one of the rooms and saw that the ceiling had collapsed making a ramp to the third floor. The three ODST walked up the ramp and stopped once they came to a closed door. Tychus glanced in; they knew that brutes were in the room since the roar of their weapons gave them away. Tychus gave them a quick stream of hand signals and readied himself along side the door, Johnson took up position behind Sev who was also next to the door. The two men along the door had two grenades in hand, Tychus nodded and Sev brought his foot up and kicked it back sending the door swinging open. Two frag grenades soared into the room. The brutes turned and looked at the door just as Johnson popped out and fired his under slung forty mike-mike. The resulting explosions killed most of the brutes and the ODSTs ran inside. The third floor was a large open cafeteria like room, over turned tables provided cover as the brutes and humans slugged it out. Sev looked down and saw a Brute LMG and dove for the weapon and rolled as he picked it up. He ended up behind a over turned table. The ODST snapped out and set the large machine gun on the table and began to fire bursts in to the brutes that had now been flanked. The spike rounds buried themselves into brutes, tables and the AA guns that were set up to fire out of the missing roof. The other humans poured the fire on and the brutes were massacred.

"Platoon regroups!" Lt Neibecker yelled as he came through the door of the walkway that spanned the gap between the two main wings "Command, this is 101 second platoon, objective taken over"

"Roger that hold that position, you have lots of incoming"

"Understood, do we have support?"

"You have freed the air up, and three platoons of Marines are coming to reinforce your position"

"Understood, over and out" Neibecker said before looking at his men "Dig in, we got incoming"

June 4th 3232, 1704 SMT / Helghan sewer system:

Jason had some how managed to get point, again. The two spartan squads, John and Ack-Ack's moved silently through the pipes. They normally couldn't see so their NV systems were active. Jason heard the sounds of the fight clear and turned the bend to see that part of the street had been blown open, a large hole in the pipe would break their cover.

"We got open ground" Jason said to the spartans behind him "we are right under the brute flank and I can see them moving around"

"Shit, we can be compromised" Ack-Ack cursed his mind raced and he got an idea "Command this is dark eagle, we need support"

"Support, you have been compromised?"

"No, but there is a large hole in the sewer system and we will be exposed" Ack-Ack began as the spartans slunk back from the open area "if we could get some artillery to distract them that would be great, make sure to use something that will really kick up some dust and smoke"

"Understood, barrage on its way"

Jason waited at the edge, his rifle trained on a group of brutes that were near the edge of the sewer. The artillery hit sending the brutes scrambling for cover, flame engulfed the area as the napalm filled rounds sent the enemy into pure chaos.

"Move" Jason said and ran through the gap. The gap was twenty feet wide, small in actuality but if they were compromised they were dead and the spartans knew it. The elite infantry of the UNSC quickly moved through the gap in their concealment. Jason led them into a darkened section of the sewer and stopped for them to regroup.

"All right ladies and gentlemen listen up, we are at the base of the bridge" Ack-Ack said "we got about a half click to get to the objective"

Jason nodded then stood up from his crouch and led the spartans along the tunnels. After about a third of the way to the objective they came to yet another obstacle, part of the bridge was gone and the pipe was missing a floor, thankfully the rest of the bridge above was in tact, the floor that they need however was not in this area.

"Bring one of the line guns" Jason said and has handed the tube like device. Jason crammed the anchor into the rook of the pipe and fired it over to the other pipe, the other anchor buried itself in the pipe.

"One at a time" Ack-Ack said "once four are across send the bomb, Jason your fire team is up"

Jason nodded and grabbed on to the handles on the tube of the zip line device and pressed the activation button. The device quickly pulled him over the twenty yards of open air and to the other side. Jason hit the return button and the tube flew back to the start point. Jason looked around the edge and saw a closed sewer hatch.

"Sir, we got a closed hatch" Jason said "I think we got hostiles behind it"

"More than likely wait for your team and then I want you to do some recon" Ack-Ack said.

"Understood" Jason replied as TJ landed next to him. Carrero and Cale quickly followed him, the four spartans regrouped and proceeded to the hatch. Jason pulled looked around and saw a small port hole in the hatch that was used by the maintance staff to check before opening the door. On the other side was the central room of the sewer system. The brutes had set it up as some sort of command bunker._ Not a bad idea really, its fairly well protected_ Jason thought.

"Jason, this door is marked as a power generator room" TJ said quietly. Jason cracked a smile as an idea formed in his head, the covenants new army was not as well equipped as the UNSC as the higher command didn't really care about the basic infantry solider. The brute's troops didn't have access to NV or thermal equipment and were instead given flashlights.

"TJ, open that door" Jason ordered the young spartan. The door collapsed and showed a large generator "cut the cables"

TJ nodded and then yanked out his knife and began to slice the cables. Lights in the central room shut off, no emergency lights turned on either then only glow light was from the brute's screens and their lights that were attached to their weapons.

By now most of the other spartans were over the edge and had formed up behind Jason.

"Silencers on, no noise" Jason whispered as he opened a small access hatch in larger hatch. The small one was barley big enough to fit the armored spartan, who silently stepped along the walkway that the hatch lead to. The other spartans did the same, Jason saw a brute sentry in front of him. The alien was walking towards him but had his light pointed towards the ground some what, Jason fired a quick burst into the brutes head and the ape like alien fell but the spartan quickly moved and caught the body so it wouldn't make any noise. Jason clicked the light off and turned back to see that sixteen of the twenty spartans were in the room.

"Pick targets" Jason said as he sighted on a brute that was busy working on a comm. station. Jason turned on the IR laser on his weapon and could see sixteen others arching across the room and resting on targets.

"Fire" Jason ordered. The room became a blood bath as the main group of brutes was set up in the central platform. The aliens screamed, and thankfully they were in a virtual bunker. Jason sighed as the brutes were quickly dispatched but one of them had managed to hit an alarm. The noise suddenly blared and Jason knew that they had to react now.

"Sir, we been compromised get the bomb in here and ready to blow!" Jason yelled "Fire team one, cover that open hatch over there, three the one to your left. Two on me lets get this hatch open"

Jason ran over to the hatch where TJ, Carrero and Cale were waiting. The spartans all grabbed onto the hatch and began to pull it down where it had normally fall. By now the noise of brutes running thundered through the pipes. The other spartan fire teams had managed to set up their MGs so they had a direct line of fire into the pipes. Suddenly a hatch opened behind them and brutes came charging in. The spartans in the room reacted, their energy shields saved most of them save for three who fell under the fire. Jason yelled along with the other three spartans on the large hatch and the steel plate fell into the ground as the mechanize gave out. Ack-Ack and the three other spartans grabbed the bomb and began to carry it towards the center. Jason and his fire team stood alongside them as they moved pouring suppressing fire. The spartans in the room that were not focused in the other two openings helped to pin the brutes that had entered the room down. The four spartans placed the bomb on the central platform, Ack-Ack quickly circled around it and began to turn the device on. Jason moved up to a corner of the platform and flipped the desk that held the terminals. He took cover behind it as rounds from a brutes rifle flew overhead. Ack-Ack was busy but before he could finish a two loud blasts and beams of light filled the air. The first shot from the beam rifle collapsed the spartans shield and the second tore through the colonel's lower back.

"Ack-Ack!, Angel get over here!" John yelled and ran over to the colonel and drug behind cover. Angel ran and slid next to him and began to start to bandage the wound but Ack-Ack's Hand stopped her. The colonel was bleeding profusely. Jason saw the sniper and fired his grenade launcher, the explosion engulfed the brute reducing him to a gory paste.

"The timer is fried, that sniper damaged it" TJ yelled as he quickly looked it over before diving behind the large rectangular box.

Johns mind was racing, the brutes had managed to stay suppressed but the arrival of some of their more elite infantry who were shield was making the spartans lives hell.

"John, give me the remote detonator" Ack-Ack said "im not going to make it, give me the button and then get everyone else out of here"

"Sir, we can't leave you behind" John pleaded with the dying man.

"You can and you will" Ack-Ack said but John shook his head in response "That is an order spartan"

John nodded and grabbed the remote detonator from a pocket on his armor. He placed it in the colonel's hand.

"It has been and honor sir" John said before barking the order to fall back to the Exfil point to the other spartans. The brutes were meeting by ten frag grenades in to the tunnels as the devices exploded the spartans retreated to a hatch that Darrel quickly opened. The spartans all charged through it and to the open drain. John closed the hatch behind them and ran over to where the spartans where setting up the zip lines. The spartans began to soar across the cables to a landing on the river wall. The landing lead up from docks and to the street level of the city.

Ack-Ack groaned as he stood up, most of the brutes had been killed in the spartans fast and explosive with draw. Ack-Ack grabbed a FA-6 from the hands of one of his dead men. Ack-Ack racked the bolt as heard the sounds of foot steps as brutes came at him from the tunnel. Ack-Ack pulled the trigger and the massive gun roared to life, the brutes tried to get through the onslaught but the gun fire held them back. Ack-Ack felt his shields drop and then spike buried themselves in his leg as brutes came through the side hatches. Ack-Ack's gung clicked empty as he fell to one knee. The old spartan drew his knife as two brutes came at him with to take him prisoner. Ack-Ack lunged at them and dug his knife into one of the brute's necks. The colonel yanked his pistol out and fired it point blank into the second brute. Ack-Ack looked up as a brute chieftain smacked him across the face. Ack-Ack was sent flying back into bomb, his helmet flew off revealing his face. Ack-Ack looked up as the brute chieftain walked up to him. Ack-Ack's green eyes glared at the beast, his silver gray hair was dripping with sweat. Ack-Ack grabbed the detonator and grasped it in his hands.

"Yield human and you my be spared" the chieftain said pulling his hammer.

"I choose death before dishonor" Ack-Ack said as his thumb found the button on the detonator. The old man saw his entire life flash before his eyes in the matter of a second, the birth of his daughter, pushing her on a swing that hung from a tree on Eden prime, her high school graduation, her ranger tab ceremony and then her funeral where the old man had to place his only child in to her grave with a medal of honor around her neck. _Im coming Emily _was Ack-Ack's lost thought.

Jason looked back as his feet hit the ground and looked back as a large explosion echoed. The massive bridge buckled where the bomb had been set, about a half mile into it. The massive structure ballooned and began to fall, the bridge became structurally unsound and a section that would measure around half a mile long and all the way across the bridge began to fall. The bridges supports began to buckle under the stress of the massive bombs detonation and shockwave. More of the engineering marvel began to collapse until the bridge had fallen off at where it meet the other side of the river and around three quarters of a mile back. Jason held up his rifle and yelled out with the other spartans.

"Oorah!" Jason yelled as tears rolled down his cheeks knowing that their brave leader was now in a better place.

June 5th 3232, 1934 SMT/ UNSC frigate _Mason/_ in orbit around Omega:

Trexo stood in the hanger bay of the UNSC frigate, he wore his nanosuit and was equipped with Union weapons. His needle rifle repeater slung over his back and a plasma pistol sat on his thigh. The spartans and Sangheili wore the same armor, the team was ready to go. The plan was to use a Turian drop shuttle that had been captured by the ONI team from the operation on the research station months ago. After they were in, they would proceed to the afterlife club where Aria T'loak would be and ask her where Havno was. If any one knew it would be her, the only other person who had more information was the Shadow broker himself.

"So, we can just waltz up and ask her where the good doctor is?" Hudson asked "This sounds too easy, what is the catch?"

"We have to have something to deal with" Trexo said as they boarded the shuttle "Which is were the elites come in, I want them to cloak and take up sniper positions where we are able to keep a good eye one Aria. She tells us or we do the one thing many people have tried and failed at. We kill her"

"So that is your plan?" Hudson said "Why can we just go walking through the public in our top secret armor?"

"Simple, Omega is full of mercenaries with armor on all the time" Trexo said shrugging "We will blend in and if they ask say it is a very new and expensive suit that only recently became availed"

"Well, mercs are not all that bright so that will more than likely work" Nova said laughing as she hatch closed "Lets get this started shall we?"

The shuttle roared to life and headed off for the large station, the pilots guided the small craft towards a hanger bay.

"Shuttle, you are unmarked" the control man said "We need some ID, please return"

Trexo hit the comm. button to reply to the control man.

"Listen up boy, I give you one hundred thousand credits and we get a parking spot deal?"

"Shit, fuck ya it's a deal bay ten ill mark you as shuttle three five one"

"Sounds good, pilot take us in" Trexo said and the shuttle veered into the hanger, un like the civilian hangers on the citadel for shuttles omega lacked guide men so pilots had to be more careful. The human pilot set the craft down and the hatch opened up, Trexo walked out to see a batarian walking towards him. The Turian held out his hand with a credit chit in it, the batarians greedy eyes lit up. Once the batarian grabbed the Turians hand Trexo sprung into action and quickly pulled a knife out and stabbed it into the side of the batarians head and twisting it. The batarian crumpled over, Trexo caught the body and drug him into the shuttles bay.

"Dispose of this" Trexo said and turned back to the group of ONI operatives. The Sangheili cloaked and followed along with the group who was visible as six. Hudson, Nova, Trexo, Arianna, Derek and Mason. The two elites followed along silently as they moved through the streets of omega. They finally came to the entrance of afterlife, the music from the club echoed around the large empty void in the station. A line had formed in front of a bouncer who was busy telling people that they would have to wait.

"Well, this complicates things" Trexo said to which Hudson scoffed.

"No, everyone activates your cloaking" Hudson said. Trexo raised his equivalent of an eyebrow before disappearing from view. The ONI team was able to keep track of each other as the cloaked forms were outlined by their HUDs. A Group of asari was let in and the door opened up, the eight operatives quickly entered the club before the door could close.

"Move into the shadows and decloak, Thenvel, Ry, I want you to get to a vantage point and set up with those AS50s" Hudson ordered. The team walked down the hall once again visible to everyone, those who saw them appear believed it was just a trick on their eyes due to the flashing strobes in the hallway. The door into the club opened for them and the blaring music greeted them, Trexo cringed as the sensors in his helmet nearly gave out. The helmets systems quickly canceled the music's sound waves out and Trexo could hear everyone talking plain as day with out the music screaming over their voices. Trexo saw the two elites climb up one of the supports and to a walk way. They winked an acknowledgment light once they were set up.

"She will be the one in the nest, purple skin" Trexo said as he lead the five spartans up a ramp a Turian guard stopped them.

"We need to talk to Aria, we have a business deal she would do well to consider" Trexo said to the Turian.

"What is the nature of this deal that you show up in some high fucking level armor. What the fuck is that?" The Turian asked looking the suits over.

"Fresh out of ERCs prototype labs, we do them some dirty work and get to field test these" Trexo said "now, we have a deal to discuss which my benefit you and your lower quality junk you pass as protection"

"Fine, ill ask her" The Turian said pressing a comm. in his ear "Aria, six mercs here to broker some sort of deal with ERC, might be for the armor they are wearing you should really check this shit out"

The Turian paused and stepped aside muttering about how he never found good work. Trexo walked up to the asari who sat down on her luxury couch made of fine leather. A batarian walked in front of him and held up and Omni tool.

"Hold still while we scan you"

"Try it and your dead four eyed scum, I clean shit like you of my boots now step aside" Trexo retorted.

"Well, you got attitude ill give you that but if you wish to talk then it is procedure" Aria said still looking at them in a non interested sort of way. Trexo yanked the plasma pistol form his thigh, jammed it under the batarians jaw and fired. Brains splattered the area, the other guards reacted but the spartans were too quick for them. The other guards were all subdued and cuffed in the space of a few seconds. The two who came up the stairs were greeted by the barrels of Nova and Derek's guns. The guards glanced at each other but the spartans didn't give them a chance and the tow joined their fellows on the ground. Aria stood up and started to glow the biotic purple reading an attack but the thud of a round smashing in the glass of fine asari wine on the armrest of the coach and erupting stopped her.

"Now that we have your attention I suggest you calm down or this booth gets a nice coat of asari blood purple" Trexo said. The asari leered at him before sitting down back on the seat.

"I take it you are not really with ERC" Arai said "So what is it that you want?"

"Information and obscurity, tell us where doctor Havno Solus is and you will not speak of our presence to anyone who asks" Trexo replied.

"Well, you have nothing to deal with. Money, probley not the currency I would want and that armor is probley out of the question. You can try and kill me but you know that I will win, I have the strongest barrier money can buy and im the best biotic on this station. You are just some pricks in fancy armor who are just good mercs and not the generic kind" Aria retorted smiling "So, what is it I can ask of you in return"

"Aria, allow me to let you in on a secret" Trexo said sitting down next to her "Watching you right now are two Sangheili snipers armed with the best sniper rifles that the UNSC has to offer, the ones that punch straight through a tanks armor and knock gunships out of the sky like insects. What we have to deal with is your life, and the lives of your body guards. I harbor no compassion for anyone in the terminus systems so where is he"

"Hmm, you're bluffing. What would the Humans want with Havno and why would you work for them Turian" Aria said smugly "I call your bluff asshole"

Trexo sighed and nodded to Hudson who grabbed one of the batarians and hosted him to his feet.

"Ry, a demo if you please" Trexo said. A second later the four eyed alien's chest erupted and Hudson held what remained of his upper body before letting it fall. Aria for once since taking over the station was afraid, she had been dubbed because of a variable she had not accounted for.

"You drive a hard bargain, he lives in the Sotho apartments. Number nineteen" Aria said "now deals done, leave"

Trexo nodded and stood up, the six left the booth and walked out the club. The asari let out a breath she didn't even know that she was holding in.

"So, what's next?" Trexo said "We go get this guy?"

"No, my money is down that he is ready for some one to come after him. We stake the area out and find out if Nithlo's men are there before hand. Once we have the area policed up, we make a plan then execute" Hudson said as they walked out "Nova and Derek scout it out while the rest of us set up a FOB"

"Yes sir" the spartans replied and took of towards the apartment complex.

**So there you guys go chapter twenty five. The next chapter will focus on the remaining part of the omega operation as well as some action on Helghan as our spartans are given new objectives to carry out. Also the poll on the favorite characters is still open so please vote. The poll will remain open till the end of the story which won't be soon, still plenty more to tell.**

**Ah, time for review responses. **

**Miner249er- Glad this story keeps your interest, im glad to see that your are reviewing again, it's nice to get feedback from someone who was there at the start of this. **

**Shadowcub- Yes you will get some relief from Jason and the others. I know that they are not the normal idea of spartans but they are some of my favorite characters to write about and of any I have made ( I actually want to get the figures to make all the spartans from E company Sierra squad)**

**Just a crazy man- Nice to see your still around, ill see you on Xbox sometime im sure.**

**Kirk-Vamp-Fan- Thank you for those words of support, they really keep the motivation going. Im glad to see you are hooked on the story and that you are enjoying it.**

**Scope Eva- No evil scheming in this chapter but maybe in the next (hint). Im happy to see that the addition of human walkers went over well with people, yes it is the EU walker from 2142 just…Halofied. This is manly a Halo/ME story but the universe is way to small so I have to fill it with history and stuff, so I took stuff from my favorite franchises and games and used them. Besides give the story and the AU im making more depth than purely Halo/ME**

**Jarhead762-Humanity is awesome, Semper Fi, **


	26. Omega nights

**So I only got four reviews for the last chapter. Come on guys lets get few more this chapter. **

June 7th 3232, 2234 SMT/ Omega:

Trexo looked down at the Salarian in the chair; he had tannish skin that was blotched by bruising from the Turians fists. Trexo sighed as he shook his head; _this is getting us now where _Trexo thought as he crossed his arms. The Turian was wearing his nanosuit underneath a leather jacket and loose Turian cut pants to conceal the armor, he looked just like a normal person living on Omega. The area where Trexo had removed a face plate stood out against the tan color of his other plates. The other two people who had accompanied him to interrogate Havno where Eva and Senryn, the blonde spartan had been put in disguise once again. They sported similar looks to Trexo, Eva had a her hood on her jacket up and the non existent sleeves showed the nanosuit below it but most people didn't notice or seem to care. Senryn was leaning against the windows watching the streets below for signs of hostiles. Their shields would give them enough time to react to any threat and extract the doctor. Around them in positions were more of the team armed with sniper rifles to cover them in case of hostiles.

"You people don't get it" Havno said between coughing "If you think that your government sponsored brutality scares me then you have no idea of what they are capable of, I have nothing to gain from talking to you"

Trexo scowled before smashing his hand into a window next to him. The glass shattered and showered the ground below them. The relatively darkened streets of Omega only got darker at the night hours and there was not a soul on the streets. Trexo took a small piece of the glass and shoved it into the Salarians mouth; Eva grabbed his jaw and held it shut so he could not spit it out.

"Think about what you have to lose" Trexo said before punching him in the mouth three times. The Salarians eyes watered as the glass shattered inside his mouth and shredded his cheeks. Eva let go and the Salarian spat the glass out along with blood that dripped down his face. Havno looked up at the Turian with his wide eyes and bloody face.

"You clearly have no idea of what Deus Ex is capable of, I never dealt with them directly only their puppet Thenvel" Havno said sighing "If I had known what I know now I would have told them to go fuck themselves when they first asked me to help with research"

"What was the nature of your research, where did it take place? Tell me everything" Trexo said getting in the Salarians face. Havno remained silent looking away but the sound of more breaking glass got his attention as the female spartan smashed a window.

"We got a lot of windows and can go all night so spill it before we move on from glass" Eva said menacingly as she smacked the small alien on the head.

"Fine, it does not matter" Havno said as he spit some blood and glass out "Im a dead man anyway. I was hired to research and help to stabilize a certain virus, the Necron virus as they called it. They wanted to turn it into the ultimate end game bioweapon, once I found out their plans I wanted to leave but they forced us to work on that awful thing"

"Where did you work?" Trexo asked him as he crossed his arms listening to the man. Senryn grabbed a SMG out from under her coat and checked it as a few people walked into the building.

"On a research station before it went under thanks to someone's bad habits, but before that I was at the source of the virus working there to transform it from its basic form" Havno said "Aegis Seven"

"What is Deus Ex?" Trexo said but before the Salarian could answer the windows exploded as gunfire tore into the room. Trexo pushed the doctor to the floor and drew his two needle pistols. The door at the end of the hallway that they were in came crashing down as blue sun mercenaries came pouring into the room. The ONI agents quickly fired their weapons as the dove for cover as hostile round poured into the room. The snipers quickly fired their weapons at the blue suns sending a few to hell as multiple colors of blood repainted the room. Trexo fired his pistols at the last mercenary as he attempted to flee from the room. The purple, crystalline rounds impacted the batarian and sent him to the floor as they exploded in his flesh.

"Let's go!" Senryn yelled as she grabbed the doctor and forced him out of the room behind the other two ONI agents. Trexo lead the group up the hall way as they came to a room that they had prepared for the event of an ambush. Trexo opened the door and the agents slipped into the room, instead of furniture decorating the room weapons adorned the walls that had been chosen by the individual operators that had gone in. Trexo grabbed his needle rifle and slung the bandolier of cartridges over his shoulder. Trexo grabbed a shield generator belt; he turned around looking for the doctor. Senryn stood at the door with her SMG in hand; she pulled out a small device that displayed what a small camera in the hall was seeing. Some more Mercenaries walked up the hall scanning the area for them. Trexo walked over to the Salarian with the shield belt in hand, Havno looked at him before raising his cuffed hands giving him a questioning glance.

"If you come with us I can guarantee your safety" Trexo said as he set the belt down.

"No you cant, no one can guarantee anything to me" Havno said "but uncuff me and I will help you fight out of here, I have an escape route planned that we can use"

"All right" Trexo said as he yanked a knife out and cut the zip ties that held the Salarians wrists. Havno nodded before pulling the belt on, he looked at the weapons before he grabbed a plasma repeater.

"Tell me where to go" Trexo said as he pressed himself against the wall near the door as they stacked up to renter the hall and make their escape.

"Go to the door two from this one on the right and use the ladder there to reach the roof then I shall lead" Havno said as he readied himself.

"Havno, you're a scientist not a solider" Eva chipped in as she checked her assault rifle.

"STG" Havno said "Im no idiot, now lets get out of here so I can get my mouth fixed asshole"

Trexo scoffed and nodded to Senryn who kicked the door in. Trexo rounded the corner as the mercenaries at the end of the hallway turned to face him everything seemed to go into a slow motion as Trexo dropped into a mid set for CQB. His mind raced as he analyzed and made a choice in a split second. Trexo fired three rounds into the blue suns as the others came storming out and started to suppress the enemy. Eva kicked the door in and ran for the ladder; she turned and faced the door as Senryn ran in followed by Havno. The asari leapt up the ladder with the grace of a gymnast and up to the roofs of the slums of omega. Havno went next as Trexo retreated into the room, the Turian pulled the door shut and primed a small mine before tossing it to the floor on a run as he followed Eva up the ladder. The other two were in covering as more mercs came charging out of other buildings roof access. Trexo fired the remaining two rounds in his weapon as he slid behind an air conditioning unit.

"Hudson, we are following the doctors escape route!" Trexo yelled as he activated his comm. lines "Get in that shuttle and give us cover!"

"Understood, the snipers are bugging out you're on your own for sixty mikes" Hudson said.

"Fine, don't be late!" Trexo yelled as he hit Senryn on the shoulder telling her to follow him as he vaulted over the cover. His solider trained reactions were only enhanced by the nanosuit he wore as he ran across the roof leading the three others. The four sprinted as rounds from the mercenaries guns flew around them.

"Jump the gap!" Havno yelled to Trexo. The Turian growled and speed up before leaping across the five foot gap. Trexo slid when he landed and turned around coming into a crouching fire stance and started to spray rounds at the blue suns to force them down. The other three landed seconds behind him and kept going as he turned and followed them as Havno jumped again to a balcony and lead them into another building.

"Where will this route take us?" Eva asked as they followed the doctor through the building and back out on to its roof. They ended up looking down the barrels of at least fifty mercs.

"Hands up now!" One yelled to them. Trexo and the group slowly started back for the door they had just com out of "Stop moving!"

"This is not good" Eva said as she slowly knelt down "Our shields wont hold that long under that amount of fire pow…"

Eva was cut off as the shuttle that the UNSC had retrofitted to fit their purposes came flying in. The side bay doors were open, they had been remade to slide open and in the squad bay was two miniguns pointing out either side. The gun on the crafts right side roared to life cutting Eva off as the mercenaries turned to face the threat as the rounds tore into them.

"Follow me!" Havno yelled as he sprinted off as the mercenaries scrambled to get behind the sparse cover as the miniguns had them pinned. The Salarian lead them to an edge and jumped over it the Turian, Asari and Spartan jumped over the edge. Trexo got a brief glimpse of a very narrow alley as he soared over and landed on the slopping edge of a warehouse. The four slid along the sleek steal roof, Trexo could see another gap at the end of the slope. Havno pushed himself from the slope and jumped to the roof of the next building. A door that lead into another part of the building opened and this time Trexo could recognize the black armor of a cabal unit as the three Turian special forces soldiers came running out with some Turian non biotic spec ops in tow. Trexo jumped across the gap and landed right on top of one of the biotics. Trexo put the barrel of his rifle against the back of the stunned Turians skull and fired the weapon as he rolled of and faced the others. They were all ready to for him to use his weapon but his eyes widened as he saw Eva jump yelling as she did. Trexo realized what she was about to do and dove back as the spartan landed in the middle of them slamming her fist down sending the Turians up in the air. Senryn quickly sent out a singularity as she landed, the spartan had rolled away form the impact zone and was thankfully not caught in the attack. Eva ran past him and jumped to a slanted ledge that Havno had pointed to. Trexo tossed a frag grenade into the swirling mass of Turian and dark energy. Trexo jumped across the gap followed by Senryn. Trexo landed solidly on the metal plate of a buildings vent system, the magnetic boots kicking in to stop him from sliding. The mercs had followed them and started to spray weapons fire all around the ONI operatives. Havno jumped last, the Salarian hit the vent but his foot slipped and he went sliding down it. Trexo grabbed him by the hand as he went over the edge. Senryn grabbed the Turian with her biotics and held him as he tried to pull the Salarian to safety. The nanosuit he wore helped him as he started to pull the Salarian up when Havno's shields broke and a round tore through his chest. The doctor looked up at Trexo.

"Im not going to make it, ill bleed out in a minute" Havno said in a surprisingly calm voice "Aegis Seven, Hawking Eta it will have…"

The Salarian never got to finish his last words as a sniper round tore through his skull.

"Fuck!" Trexo yelled as he dropped the limp body and pulled himself back on to the slab. The entire time Eva had been doing her best to suppress the mercenaries. Her rifle had fired non stop but the mercenaries were starting to come out on to the roof where the blood remains of the group before them lay splattered about.

"We got to go!" Senryn yelled as she tossed a grenade on to the roof across from them. The three operatives scrambled for the scaffolding next to the vent as a rocket hit the place they had been only moments ago. The blast buffeted Trexo and he almost lost his balance but he managed to keep his feet as he followed the disguised spartan along the scaffolding. She jumped to a balcony and led them to more scaffolding that was in the small alleyway. The spartan jumped to it and used the sides as a ladder and slid down it to the street below much like a fire pole. The other two followed suit and ran for the end of the alley as a hover truck came around the corner and the back flew open. Inside was Ry and Arianna who was driving.

"Get in!" Ry yelled and the three leapt into the back of the truck. As soon as they were in the truck soared of again out on to the street. Trexo breathed I sigh of relief and leaned his head up against the wall of the trucks cargo bay.

"So, what we get out of him?" Arianna asked as they rounded a corner headed for the shuttle bay to extract to the mason and get the hell out of dodge.

"He said that the main research lab is on Aegis Seven, it's in the Hawking Eta cluster but he didn't give a system. My guess is that we should look for it in the colony database on the extranet, it may have a better location for us" Trexo said "he also said that Thenvel was just a puppet to a group called Deus Ex"

"Good work Trexo" Hudson said as he came online the comm. system "but our concern is stopping the finishing of the virus and getting that puppet we can worry about the other stuff later"

"I agree but there is probley more to this than we think" Trexo said thoughtfully "For now lets get out of this wretched place"

June 7th 3232, 2251 SMT/ On board Turian frigate _Duty and Justice_:

Garrus lay sound asleep in his bed aboard his ship; dreams of Liara filled his head. The Turian was having a sound night of sleep for the first time in a long while. Dreams of the beautiful asari that waited for him to return from his mission filled his head. He grunted as his terminal began to ring, the terminal picked up and Liara's face appeared on screen. The blue skinned asari smiled as she looked at the sleeping Turian, she thought about trying later _time difference, I forgot_ she thought to her self. Garrus's eyes fluttered open but he quickly squinted as the light form the screen disturbed him.

"Im sorry Garrus, I forgot about the time differences and all that" Liara said "and now I sound like an idiot"

"Naw, its okay" Garrus said as he blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light "its fine, I was just dreaming about you"

"Really, why would you dream about me I am so boring" Liara said looking away. Garrus chuckled at the image of her returning to her shy self.

"You are pretty interesting to me, not mention beautiful" Garrus said smiling. Liara smiled back at him, her expression changed briefly to one of longing before she spoke again.

"Oh, I almost forgot" Liara said excitedly "you know how you pushed me to turn in my work on the Prothean extinction to the university so they might send me out to a dig site again?"

"Yeah, you talked about it all the time" Garrus said laughing "You and your theories on their disappearance were actually interesting, well what I could understand anyway"

"They liked my work and are sending me out to help with some research on a site that has been making a lot of discoveries" Liara said smiling as she began to talk a mile a minute, a habit she had when she talked about something that really interested her "best of all its attached to a colony so you can come visit after you get done with your mission"

"That is great, what Colony is attached to?" Garrus asked her.

"Aegis Seven, it's in Hawking Eta in the Century system" Liara said smiling "it would be so great to have you out on the dig site with me"

"That would be great I would like that a lot, any time I can spend with you would be great" Garrus said happily "better than this anyway"

"Garrus, I know it's rude to ask but what is it like? Why do it if you hate it?" Liara asked him curiously. Garrus sighed as he thought about the question and the answer that he would have to give.

"Its, I can't describe it" Garrus said "I don't hate it, I know I have to do what must be done and right now it's this mission. As much as it pains me I have to do it to keep you safe. If you mean combat, it is not pleasant Liara. I hope you never have to go anywhere near a war zone or combat"

"I see" Liara said her voice dropping "well, it's late for you so I should let you get some sleep"

"Liara, I love you and ill come right after we finish our mission I promise" Garrus said smiling "goodnight my angel"

"I love you to Garrus, get some rest my solider" Liara said as she switched the comm. system on her terminal off. Garrus slowly felt sleep take him over again and he fell once again into a blissful oblivion.

June 8th 3232, 1340 SMT UNSC frigate Mason/ in route to Aegis Seven:

Trexo sat on a chair in his private quarters, the flight to Aegis seven would take a few days and he needed to unwind after the events on omega. He could not stop thinking about the war on the front lines that he betrayed his comrades by doing what he was doing. Part of him felt that it was his duty to protect Turian interests but he also felt that his duty was not to them but was to what is right. The Turian looked at the screen on the computer that was next to his empty glass of whiskey. The Mason had stopped at an extranet buoy and had hacked in using the ships AI, the result was that they had access to everything travelling via extranet. Trexo typed into the search bar of a site dedicated to colonies "Aegis Seven". A single entry appeared on the screen. Trexo clicked on it to learn some more about the place where they would finally get some answers and put a stop to Thenvel's conspiracy to take control. Trexo started to read about the planet, the description said it was classified as dead. No plate movement, no under ground flowing lava, the planet was essential nothing more than a very big rock now. _Hmm, seems that this rock is rich in minerals though_ Trexo thought as he saw the resource readout. Aegis seven was a gold mine of resources; it was basically made of precious resources and layers of rock. Aside from that it had a large prothean ruin on it that had a research complex attached to it. Trexo scrolled down as a fear suddenly began to build in his mind as he realized what they could potentially face down at the colony. The Turian had not yet encountered the Necromorphs that resulted from the virus but from watching mission logs from the research station he had a good idea that they were very bad news. Trexo read further along and his heart stopped when he came to paragraph on the science research station that was attached to the colony. The station was not just attached but integrated into the colony, _fuck if that virus some how escapes then, oh shit _Trexo thought as he looked at the size of the colony _over two thousand people and that is the numbers that live there_. Trexo's eyes were as wide as saucers; he quickly stood up and ran for the door. The metal slab slide open and he took of for the CIC to find Hudson. Trexo was running and didn't notice when he bumped into someone who was walking in the hall. The two collided and ended up on the floor, Trexo pushed him up and saw the very man his was looking for.

"Damn, would have made a good linebacker" Hudson said shaking his head as he stood up. Trexo took the hand that was offered and with Hudson's help he got to his feet.

"Hudson we have a huge problem" Trexo said calmly.

"What sort of huge problem?" Hudson said suspicious of the Turians intent as he crossed his arms.

"Aegis seven is not just a research station, it is a full blown mining colony" Trexo said with his worry evident in his voice. Hudson looked at him funny before the realization dawned on him.

"Fuck, we won't be there for ten days at least since we can only use the relay sparingly in council space to remain hidden" Hudson said shaking his head "This is not good, how many potential hostiles are we looking at?"

"Over two thousand, close to three" Trexo said "and that's is everyone dies, there will be people who manage to survive long enough and we need to get there, if one ship leaves with just one necromorph on board than it will spread"

"Then we get there ASAP, shut the lab down" Hudson said "the existence of this virus threatens everything, not just the UNSC, if it gets lose we may not have much of a galaxy left to fight over"

"I agree and I hate it but once we get there the Mason must destroy every ship that leaves the station, not one ship can make it out" Trexo said angrily though that anger was directed at himself.

"Your right, fuck this is not good" Hudson said "Hopefully we won't need to and the colony will be fine"

"More than likely but there is a chance and I hate gambling" Trexo said as the tow started to walk and talk "For now we need to devise a plan of action for when we arrive at Aegis Seven"

June 8th 3232, 1500 SMT/ Helghan/ FOB viper:

Jason sat on the side of a puma's gun bed, his helmet rested next to him and a cigar rested in his mouth. The spartan gazed into no where, his mind was blank and he just sat and watched as marines moved around the base setting up tents, storage lockers and all the other assists the base needed. It had been a few days since Ack-Ack died but the weight of it still hung over every spartans head, Ack-Ack their fearless leader was gone and they now needed a new one to follow. The spartan company did have a xo but he did not want to take Ack-Ack's position when they offered it, said that he was retiring soon and that E company needed a leader who would be there for awhile. Jason pulled the cigar from his mouth and let out the smoke slowly savoring the flavors and enjoying the small bit of relaxation that a trooper could get on the front lines. The spartan stared straight ahead and didn't look as his brother sat down next to him causing the warthog to groan under the added weight. Jason passed his brother the smoking roll of tobacco, John took it and took a puff before passing it back. The others in the squad walked over to them, the entire group remained silent as they sat down around or on the warthog. Jason felt Angel sit down next to him and lean her head up against him, he instinctively put his arm around her. The other spartans sat around the jeep and joined Jason and John as they gazed out from the camp. The puma was place on the ramp of the stadium and they had a clear view of the bridge, the massive gap in the structure stuck out of it like a wound. This was the first time the squad could relax after the death of their commander due to the brutes landing forces to try and push the UNSC back from the bridge and unfortunately the had pushed them back and had retaken parts of the city lower city. It was only a matter of time before they had to retreat; the enemy was on their door step.

"I feel as if we should do something for Ack-Ack" Darrell said breaking the reflective silence.

"Yeah, I was thinking that to" Cale said as he lit the end of his own cigar. John stood up form the side of the puma and walked over to the ledge and pulled out an E company flag and hung it over the edge so the black wolf insignia faced them. The other spartans watched in curiosity as John pulled a tablet from the pouch on his leg and set it up like a picture frame. He tapped the screen a few times and a picture of Ack-Ack standing with the entire spartan company, it was not a formal picture but one that had been taken as the spartan company lounged around a Fob back on Heaven. Other spartans from E company walked over motioning to others and stood as they gazed at the picture; though small it had a big impact on the warriors. The entire company of spartans gathered around the puma and watched as John sighed and faced the crowd.

"Im not very good at these sorts of things" John said sadly "but ill do my best because that is what Ack-Ack deserves"

"He was the best leader we could ask for" a spartan said. The others murmured their agreement.

"That he was, Ack-Ack was one of the best men I have ever meet" John said "I know that he is at peace now and with his daughter and wife in a better place than here. He, he was the bravest of us. He never faltered in battle, never backed down and I know that he died how he wanted to, with his honor"

"Oorah" some spartans murmured in response. John sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts.

"But Ack-Ack wouldn't want funeral, hell if never wanted one at all. I remember he said one time, 'if I die, just but me in the damn box and bury me next to my daughter'. Unfortunately we don't have his body so we cant grant him that" John said chuckling at the memory "He fit in with this rag tag bunch of misfits. He was like us in many ways; it's funny that they put him in charge of the finest the UNSC has to offer. Drinkers, smokers, gamblers and womanizers, people always ready for a fight. Especially one involving alcohol and the potential for some one to get hurt"

The spartans laughed as John talked about their leader who was by far the definition of rough around the edges.

"He could drink my brother under the table and still walk straight" John said laughing.

"Wish we could have gone another round" Jason said somberly.

"Yeah, I beat" John started up again "Ack-Ack was just that, a rough and tumble drunken Irish man who made the civilized parts of society faint"

The spartans roared in laughter at the joke that had been made by John. Johns smiled faded though and his tine became serious again.

"But despite his faults he was still the best of us" John said "Ack-Ack would give the shirt of his back to anyone who needed it. He was always the first spartan on the ground and the last one off, period. He led us from the front and never once did he back down, or let us back down. He would sacrifice everything to help even the lowest ranking private or the highest ranking officer; even if it meant that he would die doing it. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have served with such a man but he is not here anymore. Ack-Ack would not us moping about, he would not want us to sit here at base waiting for some more orders, he would want us to fight" John grabbed his helmet and unslung his rifle

"Get on your feet you sorry sons of bitchs!" John yelled to the spartans as the sounds of the battle drew closer to them as the brutes had advanced closer. The spartans all stood up fast, Jason grinned and flicked the cigar over the edge of the wall. Jason stood on his feet and grabbed his commando helmet. John pulled his helmet on and the entire spartan company followed suit.

"Lock and load wolves, its killing time!" John order as he racked the bolt in his rifle. The spartan roared in response and followed John as he ran down the ramp of the stadium and towards the advancing brutes.

**So there you go chapter twenty six. I hope it was good, the next chapter will focus on Garrus and his group investigating, some scheming by our favorite evil Turian councilor, E company on another mission (yes they force the brutes back), Liara gets a nice section and the Black ops team gets some parts as well but they wont arrive at Aegis seven till chapter twenty eightish. **

**Review responses (this should be a bigger section, hint hint)**

**Miner249er- The council is most defiantly getting worried and might be taking some drastic action soon.**

**Just a crazy man- You will see what happens, and it is not what you may expect will happen when the two groups meet.**

**G- Thanks for the compliment, I try to work on those issues but hey no ones perfect.**

**Vorro- its cool, the conflict is coming soon and like I told crazy man what happens is something you won't expect. Yes Ack-Ack is dead, I enjoyed writing him as a character but his death was planned in chapter one. Im glad you like the omega stuff but that ended in this chapter but the events on Aegis seven are going to be the main focus for quite a few chapters, we wont hear much about John and Jason for while, next chapter and a few sections about them in the Aegis seven chapters just so we know how the battle on Helghan is going but they wont be the focus. **


	27. The long Wait

**Well sorry for the very, very, very long wait. I got really involved with football (we won state!) and my teachers' decided to take the homework boot and kick me in the ass with it so life has been busy. Im glad to see that the last chapter generated some reviews so I hope that I will get a few good reviews. As always enjoy the story. **

June 9th 3232, 1345 SMT/ Aegis Seven/ Docking bay five:

Liara's ship slid in to the docking rings like a graceful fish of some kind gliding through its natural habit. The young blue skinned asari looked out the window at the platform and the colony. Terra-forming had left the plant with a breathable atmosphere, a fact that many people were grateful for. Liara stood up from her cheer and smoothed her lab coat, and pulled out a small necklace with a locket attached to it. She flipped open the jewelry and saw the picture of Garrus and her. The young couple was embracing each other, there eyes lost in each others as the citadels skyline glowed behind them. Garrus couldn't afford an expensive projector locket that had become popular recently but she loved the one he got for its simplicity. She grabbed her carry on back pack and pulled it over her shoulders and followed the other passengers out of the cabin. Heavy winds gusted over the platform and she held up a hand to block the blinding sun. Liara walked towards the door as a Salarian approached her, he held out a hand smiling.

"I am Doctor Valko Solus" the Salarian said as Liara took his hand.

"Are you the leader of the research team?" Liara asked causing the Salarian to laugh Liara looked confused "Sorry, it's just that im not even close im a student here doing my work to help for my masters degree"

"Oh, im sorry some times I make such a fool of my self" Liara said blushing slightly.

"Its fine come on I bet you are dying to see why you came here" Valko said as he motioned for her to follow and lead her into the colony. The entrance area was a full of people trying to get through the check in lines but thanks to Liara's researchers pass they were able to pass through a check in set for researchers and security only.

"This place is quite impressive" Liara said as they moved through the hustle and bustle of the colonies main market area and towards what appeared to be a store front.

"Are we not going to the research site?" Liara asked. Valko opened the door and Liara raised an eyebrow before stepping in to the store front. Valko followed behind her and walked up to the man at the counter who nodded to him.

"Papers" Valko said and the man opened a drawer and placed a paper on the counter with a pen. Valko walked over to the door and locked it, Liara felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck and she pulled her color slightly. Her nerves stood on end as Valko flipped the sign and closed the window blinds.

"What you are about to see is top secret Liara, we are sorry to trick you like this but your research may have just been proven true. When I say top secret im talking about the kind that if you talk we have legal right to kill you, this is your one chance to back out of this project but you still must sign the oath to secrecy and must never speak of this conversation if you refuse" Valko said to her his tone no longer light hearted but very serious.

"I…uh" Liara stumbled over her words before asking "Why is it top secret?"

"Because if news that things like what is here exist then there will be wide spread panic, but it may be the proof you need to solidify your theory but it can never be included till we say so"

Liara thought to herself but she was so nervous her mind and imagination ran rampant as to what they may have found. The more vivid, the more curious she got till she nodded her head and grabbed the pen signing the paper.

"Good, now follow me and remember this never happened. You tell everyone you are working on the prothean ruin" Valko said before opening a door in the back of the store and leading her in to the storage room. He grabbed a rifle that was in a rack and pulled on it revealing it to be a lever in disguise as a door slid open. On the other side were a long pristine white hallway with a security check and four heavily armed guards and a heavy mech standing in front of the station. Valko remained silent as he walked through the scanner. Liara followed behind him as he led her to the door and stepped into a glass elevator. Liara's eyes grew wide as she finally saw what she was her for.

"By the goddess what is that?"

"Your new project, you work for Deus ex now" Valko said "The less you know about that the better though just except the money, do your job and everyone gets along"

"Ok, ill do my best but what is Deus ex?" Liara asked.

"I said the less you know the better" Valko said as the elevator began to move. Liara didn't notice the blue tint to his eyes she was to busy staring at the enormous, glowing red twisting helix.

"The red marker, beautiful" Valko said.

June 9th 3232, 0234 SMT/ Omega/ Afterlife:

Garrus glared at the batarian who was scanning him; he drummed his fingers on his pistol impatiently. The batarian dropped the scanner and Garrus stepped forward smacking his shoulder in the four eyed alien. The Batarian growled at him his hand reaching for his own pistol.

"Don't try it, I have killed far tougher than you shit face now get out of my face" Garrus said with his anger for dealing with criminal sum fully evident in his voice. Arai laughed a bit at his statement from where she sat observing him like a predator waiting to pounce on it's pray.

"I like you Turian, bold words but can you back them up?" Arai asked "Still doesn't matter, sit and tell me why another government is bothering me"

"What other government?" Garrus said hoping that his hunch was right about who she meant.

"Take one guess; I know why you are here and ill gladly helping your little party along. They threatened me, I don't like being threatened" Aria said before looking at the batarian "Ruful, take them to the area that those fuckers tore up"

"Yes ma'am" the batarian said before looking at Garrus. "Follow me Bird face"

"Lead on scum wad" Garrus growled as the batarian lead him and his team of seven other Specters off the dais of sorts and out of the club.

"Why would she be so willing to help us like that?" Saran asked Garrus as they followed along.

"My guess is the blood stains on the floor may have something to do with it" Garrus said as the batarian stopped by a shuttle and opened the hatch.

"Get in" The four eyed alien said a specter made a step foreword but Garrus held up his arm blocking the Salarians path.

"Give me the ignition chip, I don't trust you as far as I could throw an Elcor" Garrus said. The batarian crossed his arms in defiance his face smug and held.

"No, I drive and that's final" Garrus narrowed his eyes but Saran drew his heavy pistol and pointed it at the mercenary.

"You wouldn't kill me, government says you can't and you don't have the ignition chip or the coordinates for the place that are in my Omni-tool" You have nothing to bargain with.

"Actually we have the coordinates" a Salarian specter said "I hacked your Omni-tool and took them when you were busy paying attention to the dancers. You mercs really should have some one install security programs on your Omni-tool that actually know what they are doing"

"Good work, and the chip is just a chip so" Saran said smiling "Your not real bright are you, we are above law"

"What?" The batarian said before Saran pulled the trigger on his specter grade heavy pistol, the weapon dropped the alien into a pool of blood at the base of the shuttle. Saran walked over to the dead batarian and grabbed the ignition chip from a pocket on the batarian's armor.

"Ill drive now get in, we don't have time to burn debating killing one more criminal scum bag" Saran said. The specters loaded themselves into the shuttle and Saran fired up the engines. The craft rumbled to life and began to lift off the ground its thrusters kicking dust up of the deck. The shuttle accelerated foreword and the specters were on their way to the scene of a massive firefight between the ONI commandos and an unknown force. Garrus sat next to his fellow Turian. The lowlights cast shadows across their faces, the lights of omega below them created a sense of suspense as Garrus what exactly they would find.

"Saran" Garrus said as he looked at the specter "What compelled you to kill that batarian?"

"He was in the way and I don't trust him, we wouldn't know if aria told him to take care of us" Saran began "Look Garrus, we did a mission together months back but im going to tell you, if you want to stay alive as a specter you should not trust anyone"

"Fair enough" Garrus said as he looked ahead. A silence filled the cockpit of the shuttle; apprehension seemed to fill the craft as the team of specters neared their destination.

"Saran set us down near where the chase started and lets see if we can piece everything together" Garrus said as he examined the navigation screens readout.

"We should check the security cameras in the area as well, there is no way there is not footage of this" Tela said from the back "And spread us out along the route that way we spend as little time here as possible"

"Agreed, Tela when we land follow the path and see what you find to indicate if it really was them and what they were after for sure right now all we got is speculation" Garrus said as the craft came down towards the roof of a run down apartment complex "Saran orbit overhead, I want you to be ready in case we need to bug out"

"Sure thing, ill keep scanners open to watch for anything suspicious" Saran said before opening the crafts doors "Watch yourself Garrus"

The young Turian specter nodded and stepped out into the back and followed the other specters on the roof. Garrus looked around and could see evidence of a firefight all around, manly in the form of bodies. Tela was kneeled down near a bent up access hatch, she waved him over. Garrus walked over and knelled down next to her and set his rifle down as he ran his hands over the hatch its was bent and full of holes.

"Fragmentation grenade, UNSC standard issue" Garrus said as he stood up grabbing his rifle "The explosion was from the inside, but my question was if this was a breach and clear maneuver or something else"

"My money is that they used this to slow down their pursers, ill take Javen and Frex along the route and radio if we find anything out of the ordinary carnage"

"All right stay frost, this place gives me the creeps" Garrus said "J'quan get the hatch open"

A Turian stepped over to the hatch and grabbed it before pulling it open quickly Garrus snapped his weapon into the opening but quickly looked back. A foul odor came flooding out of the hatch. The rest of the specters backed away, some looked sick.

"All right helmets on, and seal them" Garrus ordered as he pulled a helmet of a slot on his back and placed it on his head and let the air tight seal engage. The Specters approached the hatch and Garrus jumped down landing in the massive of shredded bodies that used to be four living people, but now resembled ground beef. Garrus moved down the hallway and the other specters eventually joined him.

"Holy shit, what the hell?" J'quan said as he looked around "A grenade did this?"

"Human frag grenades are packed with enough explosive and shrapnel that I have seen them clear whole rooms, and they are very lethal" Garrus said as he reached a door into a room that seemed somewhat untouched. There were a few broken windows, a bed, terminal and other very basic amanitas.

"Well, some one settled for the basic package" A Salarian specter said as they looked around.

"So it seems, Get that terminal hacked I want to see everything" Garrus said to the Salarian "They interrogated him here and I want to know exactly why"

"Sure thing, ill get right on that"

June 9th 1113 SMT 3232, Helghan/ FOB:

Jason sat in on a table in the cafeteria that the UNSC had repurposed into a briefing room. John sat next to him and the rest of the squad where sitting on the bench of the table, the spartans were not in their armor other wise the table would collapses due to weight overload. The companies XO, Colonel Jensen had taken over as CO and was about to deliver them a briefing on their next mission along with a situation report.

"All right everyone listen up, I got some good news and bad news" Jensen began "First the good news, and we finally got naval support approved"

The spartans cheered and clapped for a few seconds, naval support meant that they would be able to force their will on to the enemy.

"Bad news is it has to still get down here to help out with the next step in taking this city and that is crossing the massive river which is where we come in" Jensen said as he signaled some on in the back to hit the lights which cut off and a projector came online. A map of the bridge appeared, its massive scar a lasting monument to Ack-Ack, was clearly visible.

"The bridge while no longer able to give the covenant a reinforcement superhighway and our AA batteries being able to keep any dropships at bay, the bridge still is a very big problem for us" Jensen said as red dots appeared on the bridge some areas there where entire blocks of dots "Each dot is a AA gun, and many of them are Brute heavy Spike drivers, the kind that lance frigates in a few shots"

The spartans groaned some what as they began to realize where the briefing was heading. Jason sighed as he looked over the map, angelica leaned against his shoulder and he put his arm around her.

"Well, shit" Jason grunted as he looked at the map. John nodded, he looked at the squad, they seemed ready to go physically and he knew mentally but he also could tell they were becoming tired, not from no rest but the sort of emotional drain that war puts upon soldiers. Jason tapped his brother's shoulder and pointed to the screen where Jensen was starting up again.

"We have to take out those guns so we can move frigates over the river and use them to land mass amounts of our troops to move into the rest of the city" Jensen said "We will land on the bridge, and when I say we I mean the entire spartan company is being use in this attack, once we secure a LZ the 101 ODST will reinforce us and we will begin the invasion the bridge. Trust me it is going to be along fight, the bridge measures around six miles in length and half a mile wide. We are talking some very close combat as well"

"Sir, do we get any support or we just getting thrown to the monkeys by the brass asses on this one?" Carrero asked leaning forward and giving the new CO his usual warped look.

"The 23rd air wing has volunteered to give us air support, once we have an LZ secure the Gravediggers are going to be landing a few walkers as well and a ONI prowler is moving into position to scrambled the AA guns sensors" Jensen said "We have support and once we secure enough of the bridge, Sierra Squad gets the honor to paint for orbital bombardment on the other end of the bridge to finally cut this assist of from the covvies"

"All right so we all get to die" Carrero said "Great"

T.J. shifted uncomfortably where he sat as he thought about the upcoming operation. The other spartans seemed very apprehensive about the whole mission.

"We move out at 1900 tomorrow, be thankful this mission is under night cover and unlike the brutes we can see in the dark" Jensen said "Good hunting dismissed"

June 9th 3232, 1300 SMT/ Citadel Ship _Leverage_:

Garrus sat at his terminal as he plugged in the disc of downloaded material that they had obtained from the terminal in Havno's apartment. Garrus sighed as he logged into his terminal and pulled up the disc drive. He began to go through the different files, _what__is__this,__Necron?_Garrus licked on the files and more folders popped out from the file with labels that Garrus instantly recognized as standard military date codes used by the Turians. Garrus clicked on the earliest one, a video log popped up and Havno could be seen in a somewhat comfortable room. Havno however didn't look like he was all that comfortable.

"Video logs seventy-nine, my last entry from station forty-seven" Havno said horridly as sweat ran down his face. Garrus could see gore on the scientists uniform and face, a SMG has loosely held in his hand. Garrus could hear screaming in the background and some sort of growling that made his blood run cold. "My weapon's dry, this place is falling a part, the virus had escaped and now we are all almost dead. Im going to try and make a run for the shuttles. I don't have much time, this all start at aegis seven all the answers lay there"

Suddenly the door to the room collapsed in and a black shadow filled the screen Havno turned around to see what had entered and the video cut out. Garrus looked closely at thing but couldn't tell exactly what it was. Garrus reached for the comm. button ready to call Saran to come look at the video but something stayed his hand. Garrus instead hit the button to call Tela Vasir.

"How can I help you Garrus?" Tela said through the communicator.

"I need to come here, I found something in the data" Garrus began "and I don't like the look of it"

"Alright, ill be there in a minute" Tela said and closed the connection. Garrus manipulated the screen so the thing behind Havno was filling the screen. Garrus enhanced the image as best as he could till he could somewhat make out the image. It was still somewhat obscured and pixilated. The door opened and Tela strutted in wearing a pair of regular everyday clothes.

"So, what we got?" Tela said walked in and over to Garrus, who was still busy trying to get some better imaging out of the terminal.

"I don't know, im trying to get this thing to gives us a better view but so far its useless" Garrus said turning around to face her "I think it maybe a Turian but its only a guess"

"Move over, let me see" Tela said as she placed her hands on the desk and leaned closer to the screen. Garrus felt her brush her arm against his, the Turian scooted away a bit as she studied the screen.

"I think your right but if it's a Turian, the guy has seen better days" Tela said as she stood up "So, the only question is what else is in here?"

Garrus pulled up more files, mostly journal entries that depicted the beginnings of paranoia. Garrus and Tela scanned the data but the only consistent thing that was coming up was mentions of Necron and Deus Ex.

"This guy was going insane, and paranoid. It seems he thinks that whoever or whatever Deus Ex is was chasing him for something he had to do with Necron" Garrus said slowly disbelieving what his own mind had lead him to believe "What do you make of this?"

"Well, he was most defiantly insane, especially if he thinks Deus Ex is after him as far as Necron goes im as lost as you" Tela said crossing her arms "Deus Ex is a very, very old galactic myth"

"Never heard it" Garrus said as he closed the data browser and the screen displayed a picture of Liara.

"Really, well how about this, you tell me who she is and ill tell you about Deus Ex" Tela said as she glared at Garrus.

"That's Liara, my girlfriend. She is a researcher and currently at Aegis Seven" Garrus's voice slowed as he said that last part. His mind raced as the data he had viewed streamed through his mind, _the__answers__lay__at__aegis__seven,__the__Necron__virus,__and__red__marker_. Realization suddenly dropped on Garrus's shoulder like a load of bricks, he looked up at Tela who had what passed as the asari's eyebrow rose. Garrus snapped to his feet and ran out the door towards the cockpit. Tela ran after him, yelling at him as they ran. Thankfully the frigate was a small ship and Garrus got to the cockpit breathing a little heavy he placed a hand on the pilots shoulder.

"Aegis Seven, They are going to Aegis Seven"

June 9th 3232, 1513 SMT Helghan/ FOB:

Jason sat on the old couch that they had placed in one of the larger rooms in the bombed out building that was being used by the spartans, ODST and Marines that had moved up to the river. The buildings were wrecked and to protect their position the troops had built up walls out of rubble, wrecked vehicles and whatever else they could find. The end result was a fort, a place that had become nicknamed "Fort Detroit." The storm raged outside, a gust of wind buffeted the tarps that had been set up to cover a hole in the end of the hallway outside the makeshift recreation room. Jason pulled his cigar from his mouth and placed it in a busted cup that had become an ashtray. Angelica snuggled closer to him on the couch. The rest of the squad sat around the room, John was talking to Kat on one of the terminals that had been set up in the recreation room.

"So, we get this one last night in this place before we have to go capture the bridge" TJ said before he tipped a bottle up and took a swig "At least we got air support this time, fully dedicated"

"Yeah, don't matter though. We all going to die, if not today than…" Carrero began and took a draw on his own cigar "some other time maybe not now maybe ten years down the road"

"Man, Carrero shut up" Maria said "We got air support, we gots better equipment and we are fucking shpartans"

"And you have had way to much to drink Darrel go to your room and sleep" Jason said. Maria didn't move and looked at him funny before pointing at him and flipping him off before downing the entire bottle of what ever alcohol the brutes made, which tasted like vodka. Darrel feel backwards and lay on the floor, he sighed.

"Man, this war, all this hell, it just needs to end" Maria said before her eyes closed. Julie looked back from the window where she had set up her AS50 sniper rifle.

"Maria is usually the quite type till she starts to drink" Julie said as she watched the streets below.

"Yeah, she is right though this needs to end" Yazid said "I mean look at us, slowly losing it. Spiraling down a dark stair case of dehumanization"

"What are you a god damn poet now?" Cale said "Yeah, its war, yeah, its going to fuck with you"

"Look, guys we have been through a lot. We lost good friends but once this battle is over, the war is" Jason said "We managed to hold off the covenant and now thanks to the Helghast rebels we are about to capture the capitol city of the covenant, and thankfully most of the covenant hated the old regime. The rebels take over, the war on this front is over and we all get some down time before going back out"

"Jason, we don't want to fight anymore" Carrero said "im tired and I stink of this hellish place. I signed up to be a spartan because I wanted serves Humanity and that's why we all did it. We will finish this fight; do our duty, but god all im asking for is some time to recover"

"Yeah, I hear ya" Darrel said "You know what I plan to do after this is over with, im going to Vegas"

"Vegas huh?" Julie said "I want to open a gun store"

"Restaurant, burger joint" TJ said as he stared at the bottle of brute liquor "and I will most defiantly not be serving this crap"

"What about you Yazid, any plans for the future?" Jason asked him as the Muslim looked up from a book.

"Yeah, sleep for about a week straight" Yazid said causing the group to laugh. John stood up from the terminal and walked over to the group of spartans who where lounging on chairs and couches that had been set up in a square.

"Well, time for the sit rep" John said as he sat down on one of the couches next to Cale "So the other MEF's that where deployed along with the Union Battle Groups have taken most of their objectives meaning that only a few of the covenant planets are left in the covvie's control. As far as this battle goes, once we capture this city and take the head of the snake so to speak, the Helghast will be able to take control and then we leave" John said "Then we get some R&R time while the fleet refits, reinforces and rearms"

"Alright, so we take this bridge, take the city and end their leadership and we get to get off this hell hole?" Carrero asked.

"That's right, and as far as the overhead battle is going well enough considering that most brute ship are being abandoned or having mutinies" John said "TJ, bottle"

TJ tossed the bottle of brute liquor to John who took a swig before leaning back into the chair.

"So, anyone know exactly why these brutes are rebelling?" Angelica asked "And for that matter why have they not been helping us in this fight?"

"Well, from what the brass has said the brute rebels have been operating on the other side of the river extensively. The reason we have not experienced a counter assault from across that massive river is that the rebels are harassing them. They also have camps set up outside the cities where they have been keeping refugees from the city, keeps us from playing babysitter. The rebels are also providing serious Intel" Jason said as he put an arm around angelica "As far as why well look around, the prophets and high ranking brutes subject those lower on the totem pole and they finally had enough"

"Sounds like the Russian revolution" Yazid said as he turned a page in his book.

"Almost, except that the rebels don't want communism and instead want to set up a system like ours" TJ said.

"Yeah, and their leader doesn't look like Santa Claus" Carrero said chuckling.

"Lenin lead the revolution not Marx you moron" TJ said looking at Carrero.

"Well some one paid attention during high school" Carrero said as he took a puff on a cigar.

"And you didn't pay attention in high school?" Julie asked as she loaded a round into the breach of her gun.

"Well, yes just not to class" Carrero said "I paid more attention to the senoritas"

"And they paid so much to you" Darrel said sarcastically. The spartans chuckled but the sudden sound of a bolt closing caught their attention.

"John, over here now" Julie said as she motioned him over. John stood up and walked over to sniper, john reached to move the curtain that they had draped over the window Julie had used a light piece of pipe to keep the curtain from blocking the scope.

"Don't touch it; I don't want to give away the position" Julie said as she moved away from the rifle "Here take a look, by the edge of the building with half a brute fighter sticking out of it, north side"

John took the rifle scope and located the position that Julie had pointed out, the massive rainstorm that was raging outside made it as dark as night and thankfully the scope had built in terminal and low light imaging. John watched the corner as a figure head poked around the corner of the building; a brute ran to the next piece of cover.

"Julie get on the rifle and watch those brutes, I doubt that they are friendly the rest of you get geared up and prepare to move, we are intercepting these guys" John said as he ran past the squad to the door to the hallway "and some one hit Maria with a detox pen" Jason pulled a detox pen from a the large pocket on his digi blue pants and flipped the cap of the needle. He quickly jabbed the pen into Maria's arm, the detoxification chemical raced into her veins destroying the alcohol. She quickly woke up with a groan and looked up to yell at Jason but he was already out of the room.

"Maria get on the spotter scope" Julie said to the hangover spartan.

TJ slammed his helmet onto his head and ran towards the door of the makeshift armory. The rest of the squad was outside the room and waiting to move to the gate.

"Lets go" John said and lead the team to the gate at a jog, once they came to the gate Jason opened it and the eight spartans ran out as a marine slammed it shut behind them.

"John this is Julie, I got a radio. I don't see any more targets than just those four. They are about four hundred meters northeast of your position"

"Roger that keep us covered Julie and Maria" John said. The spartans moved in silence as they walked along the streets, rain drops splattered on their armor but they didn't even notice.

"John, they entered a building" Julie said "I got them on scope and I defiantly think they are aware of you"

"Roger that, how close are we?" John asked Julie as he held up a hand and the squad stopped crouching down.

"You are right on top of them" Julie said "I have shots should anything go wrong"

"Roger that" John replied coldly. The spartans switched to thermal imaging and could see the brutes in the one story hovel.

"Spartans, we know you are there" A brute said that looked out the window "We are Helghast and have vital intelligence for the assault"

"How can we be sure that you aren't trying to pull a fast one?" Carrero asked the brute. The brutes talked for a few seconds before four rifles hit the ground along with pistols in front of the spartans.

"Alright, you have all our weapons now come out of the rain so we can talk" The brute said. The spartans grabbed the weapons as they walked into the building to see the brutes standing with their hands up.

"Put your hands down" John said "Major John Wells, Spartan E Company"

"The black wolves, Oorah" Jason said as he kept his rifle trained on the brutes.

"I am Sgt. Skovlon, Helghast forces"

"You said you have intelligence for us?" John asked as he looked at the brute.

"Yes, but I would prefer to disclose it when we are safely in your fort" Skovlon said.

"Alright, return their weapons and lets move" Jason said "But they stay in the middle"

The brutes took their weapons and the spartans surrounded them as they walked back towards the base.

"Fort Detroit, this it Sierra one" John said as he walked in front of the group.

"Go ahead sierra one"

"We are escorting a group of brute rebels into base, they have vital intelligence to the assault" John replied.

"Understood get here ASAP"

June 9th 3232, 1904 SMT Aegis Seven/ Research Station:

Liara looked over her notes again but she couldn't believe what they were telling her, _this__marker__is__very__old_. Valko walked over to her and looked down at what she was working on.

"So, what have you found out so far?" Valko asked her as he sat in a chair next to her looking up at the red marker.

"Well, I managed to find out how old it is" Liara said happily as she tapped her data pad.

"Really, we tried usual dating procedures but they all came up with was inconclusive?" Valko said.

"Well, I tried a fairly old way to date something while not as very precise it gives us a pretty good estimate" Liara said as Valko raised his eyebrow "I used carbon dating and found that the marker is close to 7.8 million years old"

"That is a lot older than we originally thought" Valko said "We thought that it was prothean, the runes looked fairly prothean"

"I would agree with you, they bear similarities but they are far more angled than even the oldest known prothean runes" Liara said as she pulled up an image on her computer "you see here on this rune?"

Valko nodded as he examined the screen.

"Well, this resembles the prothean rune for rebirth but as you can see the corners and lines are more angled" Liara began "I believe that the preotheons found this, more than likely on their home world early in their history and based their first written language of this"

"Very interesting, have you worked out what some of the runes mean yet?" Valko asked her looking up at the marker.

"In away, they aren't a written words but a code of some sort. The symbols represent something that is in a repeating pattern, just what is my question" Liara said as she leaned against the desk "It also seems to be generating something but I am sure you are aware of that"

"Yes, we have been collecting and testing the material but that is none of your concern" Valko said "You continue to test aspects of the marker itself"

The Salarian walked from the room, the door slid shut behind him.

"I don't know what it is but that guy gives me the creeps" Liara said shacking her head. A strange disjoined voice filled her head but she couldn't quite make out what it said but shivers ran down her spine. It continued to fill her head and seemed that more joined it and it felt like they were yelling at her from all around the room. Liara grabbed her head and sat down in the chair. Her head was pounding as the voices seemed to get louder and louder till finally she yelled out.

"Stop!" The voices seemed to retract from her mind and she leaned back in her chair sweating running down her face. She used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"What the hell was that?" She said out loud "I need to go get some sleep"

**Helljumper09- Thanks for the compliment, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**Ford B- Glad to see that you are enjoying the story. I would highly recommended playing the mass effect games (in order) before the third one comes out. **

**Neo Chosha 117- Well, all the technology is some what at the same state but there has been some moving foreword. For example the weapons fire rounds that are encased in plasma. The UNSC still use projectile weapons (and to anyone who goes energy weapon OMFG!) they wouldn't be all that effective due to the fact they could be disabled the only way for a gun to be stopped by the enemy is for them to shoot it. Weapons reliant on electricity and batteries could be disabled by EMP's. **

**Serfius-Yes, I am aware of this**

**Jarhead762- Yes, Ack-Ack is missed but he died a hero and a man. As far as them finding information on the extranet, they found out information such as population, purpose you know like you would find in an almanac. I also got a ship date July 9th next year. **

**Ramenknight-If you had read in a few chapters you would discover how the ship did it. **

**Voro- I wouldn't call it awesome more like a hell for the characters but awesome to write and read. Aegis seven is going to be a few chapters.**

**Psychotic addiction- Yup, I think black ops up to this point has had the best story. **

**Andy-05- Glad you think so **

**Miner249er- Yes there will be between Aegis Seven, and the finally week or so of the battle for Helghan. **

**GodzillaMaster- Um, maybe. As for Deus Ex well, that will be explained in due time.**

**ScopeEva- I am aware of these certain things and plan to implement some of them in the future. **


	28. letter to my readers

**Hello everyone been a very, very long time so let me begin with saying no I am not dead, I'm very much alive and kicking. First let me apologize to anyone that was hoping for the next chapter of this story, sorry. Now to address the issue at hand, HALO: Revelations for me was my shining jewel but not anymore, allow me to explain. To start at the beginning of my issues, the story was devolving in a mess, and the late beginning, middle, and start of the end was praised by everyone who stuck trough my stupid start to the story that became my special needs child. I lost interest as I was gaining many new readers, which told me that the start, the corner stone was not solid. The story's foundation was sand instead of brick, and after reading it over I was appalled. However I thought about it daily, the ideas in my head never coming to fruition. I eventually resolved that when I had a chance I would pick it back up. However another idea occurred to me after I received a review mentioning I should rewrite this story so I will present to you as my readers two options, I continue as best as I can where I left of or I do this rewrite which the following will describe, I would prefer to rewrite it but I want to let you as the readers choose what I should do. I read many other halo/ mass effect crossovers and found them all to be the same, I don't want this to be one of the major two styles out there alternate first contact war or wormhole stupid shit. However those are the best methods for how to meld these two worlds so I choose the one that lends itself to logic more, but then I mentally scowled as that would make HALO REVELATIONS the same special needs child, and I wanted it to be something far better. So my thoughts drifted to how I could do this, and I realized that it wasn't in the stories but there events, it was the same pattern. First contact war, filler, mass effect trilogy starts just shepherd wears Spartan armor and wields a BR. So like the original this will make the first contact war a fucking WAR. Another thing I realized as I brainstormed this rewrite for months was that I need compelling characters, they need to be realistic and there need to be the focus on them more than the universe and they need to change from their experiences. Now for a tangent that hits what I hope is the biggest factor that will set my rewrite apart not on top but a part of the others. The reason this undertaking didn't begin early was that I was very busy, very busy. Last year I graduated high school and left for Parris Island, that's right GHOST is a US marine now (hence the penname change). I left boot camp and came back read my own work, the characters didn't seem military to me more civilian than people who are in the armed forces. I left again for ITB and there became a rifleman, I was able to read my story over and over, there was a notebook full of comments on it as I went through saying what the fuck more than once, that damn book was full of notes on how to bring the story on to what I want it to be. The final note to myself in the back of the book of editorial what the fucks and corrections to problems was a simple "make it real". So tangent finally over here is what I believe will set this apart, the way the characters act is a reflection of me and my brothers in arms, their attitudes, mannerisms and other factors. The marines in this story are not what you think we are, not the stereotype that people seem to believe that as marines we all are huge jacked, killing machines that are super motivated hard chargers at all times, because trust me that is not true for about 99.89% of the guys I know and have meet. A another aspect of this stories goal to be realistic is that the tactics, the way the marines fight, the way that they locate close with and destroy the enemy is how it is done not your video game formed idea of how combat is conducted but how I as an infantry man was taught to fight my enemy. So if you want to read some fantasied debauchery of video game action crazy call of duty bullshit combat then this is not for you, don't take that the wrong way, there will still be crazy action sequences (the skyscraper that EVE and Ry have to escape from is a favorite of mine) will be there because that shits awesome, but the way that the marines and other characters conduct combat will be realistic, by that I mean that you will not be reading that Jason medal of honor ran down the street firing from the hip, leaping over a crater, 360 no scoping the nearest turian while back flipping into a tank scoring a ten from the judges. You will see combat from a more real aspect, by this I mean fire team formations, room clearing procedures, tactical movement, weapon engagement, radio chatter, you as a reader will be subjected to discovering what the "echelon left" is and what in the fuck "TCM" stands for and what they are. So if you don't want to read a realistic as I can portray through words military story that isn't some video games idea is then this won't be for you. There done with that rant and if you are still with me at this point I applauded you, to those who I have unintentionally offended, I don't care, this is my work and I wish you luck with yours. To those who wish to read further, I also applauded because I as an author and you as a reader both have clue how this will turn out at the end. So there you go my rant on my rewrite idea, again I am going to let you as the readers choose what option you want, I am opening a poll on my profile page to allow you as my readers to vote on the course of action for this story and ultimately I believe the series as if the original or the new version, which ever you choose, I will continue this as a series covering the events of the mass effect trilogy with the application of my vision to it. Thank you all for everything, you as my readers are the reason I have interest in this story returning for its grave**

**Sincerely, Terminal Lance, semper fi **

**P.S feel free to leave comments on this in reviews or as messages to me, I will do my best to answer them**


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